Sri Lankan History

The history of Sri Lanka is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and
the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean.

The earliest human remains found on the island of Sri Lanka date to about 38,000 years ago
(Balangoda Man).

The historical period begins roughly in the 3rd century, based on Pali chronicles like the
Mahavansa, Deepavansa, and the Choolavansa. They describe the history since the arrival of
Sinhalese from Northern India[1][2][3][4] The earliest documents of settlement in the Island are
found in these chronicles. These chronicles cover the period since the establishment of the
Kingdom of Tambapanni in the 6th century BCE by the earliest ancestors of the Sinhalese. The
first Sri Lankan ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Pandukabhaya, is recorded for the 4th
century BCE. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BCE by Arhath Mahinda (son of the
Indian emperor Ashoka). The first Tamil ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Ellalan (Elara), an
invader, is recorded for the 2nd century BCE.[5]
The island was divided into numerous kingdoms over the following centuries, intermittently
(between CE 993–1077) united under Chola rule. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 monarchs from
the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods.[6] From the 16th century, some coastal areas of the
country were also controlled by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. Between 1597 and 1658, a
substantial part of the island was under Portuguese rule. The Portuguese lost their possessions
in Ceylon due to Dutch intervention in the Eighty Years' War. Following the Kandyan Wars, the
island was united under British rule in 1815. Armed uprisings against the British took place in
the 1818 Uva Rebellion and the 1848 Matale Rebellion. Independence was finally granted in
1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire until 1972.

In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic. A constitution was introduced in 1978
which made the Executive President the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983,
including an armed youth uprising in 1971 and 1987–1989, with the 25-year-long civil war
ending in 2009.

Evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda. Balangoda Man
arrived on the island about 125,000 years ago and has been identified as Mesolithic
hunter-gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well-known
Batadombalena and the Fa Hien Cave, have yielded many artifacts from these people, who are
currently the first known inhabitants of the island.

Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order
to catch game. However, the discovery of oats and barley on the plains at about 15,000 BCE
suggests that agriculture had already developed at this early date.[7]

Several minute granite tools (about 4 centimetres in length), earthenware, remnants of charred
timber, and clay burial pots date to the Mesolithic. Human remains dating to 6000 BCE have
been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Warana Raja Maha Vihara and in
the Kalatuwawa area.

Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and has been found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BCE,
suggesting early trade between Egypt and the island's inhabitants. It is possible that Biblical
Tarshish was located on the island. James Emerson Tennent identified Tarshish with Galle.[8]

The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as
early as 1200 BCE, if not earlier (Possehl 1990; Deraniyagala 1992:734). The earliest
manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c. 1000–800 BCE at Anuradhapura
and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58;
Mogren 1994:39; with the Anuradhapura dating corroborated by Coningham 1999). It is very
likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower boundary to match that of
South India.[9]
During the protohistoric period (1000-500 BCE) Sri Lanka was culturally united with southern
India.,[10] and shared the same megalithic burials, pottery, iron technology, farming techniques
and megalithic graffiti.[11][12] This cultural complex spread from southern India along with
Dravidian clans such as the Velir, prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers.[13][14][11]

Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron Age in Sri Lanka is found at
Anuradhapura, where a large city–settlement was founded before 900 BCE. The settlement was
about 15 hectares in 900 BCE, but by 700 BCE it had expanded to 50 hectares.[15] A similar
site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya.[16]

The hunter-gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the
central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island, are probably direct descendants of the first
inhabitants, Balangoda Man. They may have migrated to the island from the mainland around
the time humans spread from Africa to the Indian subcontinent.

Later Indo Aryan migrants developed a unique hydraulic civilization named Sinhala. Their
Achievements include the construction of the largest reservoirs and dams of the ancient world
as well as enormous pyramid-like stupa (dāgaba in Sinhala) architecture. This phase of Sri
Lankan culture may have seen the introduction of early Buddhism.[17] -->
Early history recorded in Buddhist scriptures refers to three visits by the Buddha to the island to
see the Naga Kings, snakes that can take the form of a human at will.[18]

The earliest surviving chronicles from the island, the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa, say that
Yakkhas (demon worshippers), Nagas (cobra worshippers) and Devas (god worshippers)
inhabited the island prior to the migration of Indo Aryan Sinhalese.

Pre-Anuradhapura period (543–377 BCE)

Main article: Early kingdoms period
Indo-Aryan immigration
Main article: Prince Vijaya
The Pali chronicles, the Dipavamsa, Mahavamsa, Thupavamsa and the Chulavamsa, as well as
a large collection of stone inscriptions,[19] the Indian Epigraphical records, the Burmese
versions of the chronicles etc., provide information on the history of Sri Lanka from about the 6th
century BCE.[5]

The Mahavamsa, written around 400 CE by the monk Mahanama, using the Deepavamsa, the
Attakatha and other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of the
period. Indeed, Emperor Ashoka's reign is recorded in the Mahavamsa. The Mahavamsa
account of the period prior to Asoka's coronation, 218 years after the Buddha's death, seems to
be part legend. Proper historical records begin with the arrival of Vijaya and his 700 followers
from Vanga. A detailed description of the dynastic accounts from Vijaya's time is provided in the
Mahavamsa.[20] H. W. Codrington puts it, 'It is possible and even probable that Vijaya (`The
Conqueror') himself is a composite character combining in his person...two conquests' of
ancient Sri Lanka. Vijaya is an Indian prince, the eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion
arms") and his sister Queen Sinhasivali. Both these Sinhalese leaders were born of a mythical
union between a lion and a human princess. The Mahavamsa states that Vijaya landed on the
same day as the death of the Buddha (See Geiger's preface to Mahavamsa). The story of
Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend and may have a
common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales.

According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha (Manthota or
Mannar[21]), and named[22] on the island of Tambaparni ("copper-colored sand"). This name is
attested to in Ptolemy's map of the ancient world. The Mahavamsa also describes the Buddha
visiting Sri Lanka three times. Firstly, to stop a war between a Naga king and his son in law who
were fighting over a ruby chair. It is said that on his last visit he left his foot mark on Siri Pada
("Adam's Peak").

Tamirabharani is the old name for the second longest river in Sri Lanka (known as Malwatu Oya
in Sinhala and Aruvi Aru in Tamil). This river was a main supply route connecting the capital,
Anuradhapura, to Mahathitha (now Mannar). The waterway was used by Greek and Chinese
ships traveling the southern Silk Route.
Mahathir was an ancient port linking Sri Lanka to India and the Persian Gulf.[23]

The present day Sinhalese are a mixture of the Indo Aryans and the Indigenous[24] The
Sinhalese are recognized as a distinct ethnic group from other groups in neighboring south India
based on the Indo-Aryan language, Culture, Theravada Buddhism, Genetics and the physical
anthropology.

Anuradhapura period (377 BCE–1017)

Main articles: Anuradhapura period and Anuradhapura Kingdom

Pandyan Kingdom coin depicting a temple between hill symbols and elephant, Pandyas, Sri
Lanka, 1st century CE.
In the early ages of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, the economy was based on farming and early
settlements were mainly made near the rivers of the east, north central, and north east areas
which had the water necessary for farming the whole year round. The king was the ruler of
country and responsible for the law, the army, and being the protector of faith. Devanampiya
Tissa (250–210 BCE) was Sinhalese was friends with the King of the Maurya clan. His links with
Emperor Asoka led to the introduction of Buddhism by Mahinda (son of Asoka) around 247
BCE. Sangamitta (sister of Mahinda) brought a Bodhi sapling via Jambukola (west of
Kankesanthurai). This king's reign was crucial to Theravada Buddhism and for Sri Lanka.

The Mauryan-Sanskrit text Arthashastra referred to the pearls and gems of Sri Lanka.A kind of
pearl , kauleya(Sanskrit :कौलेय) was referred in that text and also mentioned it collected from
Mayurgrām of Sinhala. Pārsamudra(पारसमद्र ु ) ,a gem, was also being collected from Sinhala.[25]

Ellalan (205–161 BCE) was a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata" (Sri Lanka north of the
Mahaweli) after killing King Asela. During Ellalan's time Kelani Tissa was a sub-king of Maya
Rata (in the south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna (in the
south-east). Kavan Tissa built Tissa Maha Vihara, Dighavapi Tank and many shrines in Seruvila.
Dutugemunu (161–137 BCE), the eldest son of King Kavan Tissa, at 25 years of age defeated
the South Indian Tamil invader Elara (over 64 years of age) in single combat, described in the
Mahavamsa. The Ruwanwelisaya, built by Dutugemunu, is a dagaba of pyramid-like proportions
and was considered an engineering marvel.[citation needed]

Pulahatta (or Pulahatha), the first of the Five Dravidians, was deposed by Bahiya. He in turn
was deposed by Panaya Mara who was deposed by Pilaya Mara, murdered by Dathika in 88
BCE. Mara was deposed by Valagamba I (89–77 BCE) which ended Tamil rule. The Mahavihara
Theravada Abhayagiri ("pro-Mahayana") doctrinal disputes arose at this time. The Tripitaka was
written in Pali at Aluvihara, Matale. Chora Naga (63–51 BCE), a Mahanagan, was poisoned by
his consort Anula who became queen. Queen Anula (48–44 BCE), the widow of Chora Naga
and of Kuda Tissa, was the first Queen of Lanka. She had many lovers who were poisoned by
her and was killed by Kuttakanna Tissa. Vasabha (67–111 CE), named on the Vallipuram gold
plate, fortified Anuradhapura and built eleven tanks as well as pronouncing many edicts.
Gajabahu I (114–136) invaded the Chola kingdom and brought back captives as well as
recovering the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. A Sangam Period classic, Manimekalai,
attributes the origin of the first Pallava King from a liaison between the daughter of a Naga king
of Manipallava named Pilli Valai (Pilivalai) with a Chola king, Killivalavan, out of which union was
born a prince, who was lost in ship wreck and found with a twig (pallava) of Cephalandra Indica
(Tondai) around his ankle and hence named Tondai-man. Another version states "Pallava" was
born from the union of the Brahmin Ashvatthama with a Naga Princess also supposedly
supported in the sixth verse of the Bahur plates which states "From Ashvatthama was born the
king named Pallava".[26]

Sri Lankan imitations of 4th-century Roman coins, 4th to 8th centuries.

Ambassador from Sri Lanka ( Shiziguo) to China (Liang dynasty), Wanghuitu , circa 650 CE
There was intense Roman trade with the ancient Tamil country (present day Southern India) and
Sri Lanka,[27] establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Western
Roman Empire.[28]

During the reign of Mahasena (274–301) the Theravada (Maha Vihara) was persecuted and the
Mahayanan branch of Buddhism appeared. Later the King returned to the Maha Vihara. Pandu
(429) was the first of seven Pandiyan rulers, ending with Pithya in 455. Dhatusena (459–477)
"Kalaweva" and his son Kashyapa (477–495) built the famous Sigiriya rock palace where some
700 rock graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala.

Decline
Main article: Chola occupation of Anuradhapura
In 993, when Raja Raja Chola sent a large Chola army which conquered the Anuradhapura
Kingdom, in the north, and added it to the sovereignty of the Chola Empire.[29] The whole
island was subsequently conquered and incorporated as a province of the vast Chola empire
during the reign of his son Rajendra Chola.[30][31][32][33]

Polonnaruwa period (1056–1232)

Main articles: Polonnaruwa period and Kingdom of Polonnaruwa
The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was the second major Sinhalese kingdom of Sri Lanka. It lasted
from 1055 under Vijayabahu I to 1212 under the rule of Lilavati. The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa
came into being after the Anuradhapura Kingdom was invaded by Chola forces under Rajaraja I
and led to formation of the Kingdom of Ruhuna, where the Sinhalese Kings ruled during Chola
occupation.

Decline
Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I invaded Sri Lanka in the 13th century and defeated
Chandrabanu the usurper of the Jaffna Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka.[34] Sadayavarman
Sundara Pandyan I forced Candrabhanu to submit to the Pandyan rule and to pay tributes to the
Pandyan Dynasty. But later on when Candrabhanu became powerful enough he again invaded
the Singhalese kingdom but he was defeated by the brother of Sadayavarman Sundara
Pandyan I called Veera Pandyan I and Candrabhanu lost his life.[34] Sri Lanka was invaded for
the 3rd time by the Pandyan Dynasty under the leadership of Arya Cakravarti who established
the Jaffna kingdom.[34]

Transitional period (1232–1505)

Ptolemic map of Ceylon (1482)

Jaffna Kingdom
Main article: Jaffna kingdom
Also known as the Aryacakravarti dynasty, was a northern kingdom centred around the Jaffna
Peninsula.[35]

Kingdom of Dambadeniya
Main article: Kingdom of Dambadeniya
After defeating Kalinga Magha, King Parakramabahu established his Kingdom in Dambadeniya.
He built the Temple of The Sacred Tooth Relic in Dambadeniya.

Kingdom of Gampola
Main article: Kingdom of Gampola
It was established by king Buwanekabahu IV, he is said to be the son of Sawulu Vijayabahu.
During this time, a Muslim traveller and geographer named Ibn Battuta came to Sri Lanka and
wrote a book about it. The Gadaladeniya Viharaya is the main building made in the Gampola
Kingdom period. The Lankatilaka Viharaya is also a main building built in Gampola.

Kingdom of Kotte
Main article: Kingdom of Kotte
After winning the battle, Parakramabahu VI sent an officer named Alagakkonar to check the new
kingdom of Kotte.

Kingdom of Sitawaka
Main article: Kingdom of Sitawaka
The kingdom of Sithawaka lasted for a short span of time during the Portuguese era.

Vannimai
Main article: Vanni Nadu
Vannimai, also called Vanni Nadu, were feudal land divisions ruled by Vanniar chiefs south of
the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. Pandara Vanniyan allied with the Kandy Nayakars
led a rebellion against the British and Dutch colonial powers in Sri Lanka in 1802. He was able
to liberate Mullaitivu and other parts of northern Vanni from Dutch rule. In 1803, Pandara
Vanniyan was defeated by the British and Vanni came under British rule.[36]

Crisis of the Sixteenth Century (1505–1594)

Portuguese intervention
Main articles: Portuguese Ceylon and Sinhalese–Portuguese War

A Portuguese (later Dutch) fort in Batticaloa, Eastern Province built in the 16th century.
The first Europeans to visit Sri Lanka in modern times were the Portuguese: Lourenço de
Almeida arrived in 1505 and found that the island, divided into seven warring kingdoms, was
unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo in 1517
and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592, the Sinhalese moved their
capital to the inland city of Kandy, a location more secure against attack from invaders.
Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century.

Many lowland Sinhalese converted to Christianity due to missionary campaigns by the

Portuguese while the coastal Moors were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the
Central highlands. The Buddhist majority disliked the Portuguese occupation and its influences,
welcoming any power who might rescue them. When the Dutch captain Joris van Spilbergen
landed in 1602, the king of Kandy appealed to him for help.

Dutch intervention
Main article: Dutch Ceylon
Rajasinghe II, the king of Kandy, made a treaty with the Dutch in 1638 to get rid of the
Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas of the island. The main conditions of the treaty
were that the Dutch were to hand over the coastal areas they had captured to the Kandyan king
in return for a Dutch trade monopoly over the island. The agreement was breached by both
parties. The Dutch captured Colombo in 1656 and the last Portuguese strongholds near
Jaffnapatnam in 1658. By 1660 they controlled the whole island except the land-locked kingdom
of Kandy. The Dutch (Protestants) persecuted the Catholics and the remaining Portuguese
settlers but left Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. The Dutch levied far heavier taxes on the
people than the Portuguese had done.[citation needed]

A legacy of the Dutch period in Ceylon are the Dutch Burghers, a people of mixed Dutch and
local origin. A later definition of the Burgher people of Ceylon was handed down in 1883 by the
Chief Justice of Ceylon, Sir Richard Ottley.[clarification needed]

Kandyan period (1594–1815)

Main article: Kingdom of Kandy
After the invasion of the Portuguese, Konappu Bandara (King Vimaladharmasuriya) intelligently
won the battle and became the first king of the kingdom of Kandy. He built The Temple of the
Sacred Tooth Relic. The monarch ended with the death of the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha
in 1832.[37]

Colonial Sri Lanka (1815–1948)

Main articles: History of British Ceylon and British Ceylon

Late 19th-century German map of Ceylon.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain, fearing that French control of the Netherlands might
deliver Sri Lanka to the French, occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called
Ceylon) with little difficulty in 1796. In 1802, the Treaty of Amiens formally ceded the Dutch part
of the island to Britain and it became a crown colony. In 1803, the British invaded the Kingdom
of Kandy in the first Kandyan War, but were repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was occupied in the
second Kandyan War, finally ending Sri Lankan independence.

Following the suppression of the Uva Rebellion the Kandyan peasantry were stripped of their
lands by the Crown Lands (Encroachments) Ordinance No. 12 of 1840 (sometimes called the
Crown Lands Ordinance or the Waste Lands Ordinance),[38] a modern enclosure movement,
and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suitable for
coffee, tea and rubber cultivation. By the mid-19th century, Ceylon tea had become a staple of
the British market bringing great wealth to a small number of white tea planters. The planters
imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India to work the
estates, who soon made up 10% of the island's population.[citation needed] These workers had
to work in slave-like conditions living in line rooms, not very different from cattle sheds.

On the top: illustration from Delineatio characterum quorundam incognitorum, quos in insula
Ceylano spectandos praebet tumulus quidam sepulchralis published in Acta Eruditorum, 1733
The British colonialists favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-caste Sinhalese and
the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country. Nevertheless, the British
also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history and the Burghers
were given degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional
development began, with a partly elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members
outnumbered official appointees. Universal suffrage was introduced in 1931 over the protests of
the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to
vote.[39][citation needed]

Independence movement
Main article: Sri Lankan independence movement
Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy, although the
party was soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Historian K. M. de Silva has stated that the
refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status is one of the main causes of the break up
of the Ceylon National congress. The CNC did not seek independence (or "Swaraj"). What may
be called the independence movement broke into two streams: the "constitutionalists", who
sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon; and the more radical
groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the
Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of "Swaraj" ("outright
independence") following the Indian example when Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and other
Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926.[40] The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of
the Donoughmore Commission reforms in 1931 and the Soulbury Commission
recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers
headed by D. S. Senanayake.[40] The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew
out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of
their policy.[41] Its deputies in the State Council, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, were
aided in this struggle by other less radical members like Colvin R. De Silva, Leslie
Goonewardene, Vivienne Goonewardene, Edmund Samarkody and Natesa Iyer. They also
demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The
Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with great interest by
the British administration. The ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in
revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers
released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy
makers at the Colonial office.
The Soulbury Commission was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional
reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by G. G. Ponnambalam, who had
rejected the "Ceylonese identity".[42] Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian"
and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese and criticized
their historical chronicle known as the Mahavamsa. One such conflict[specify] in Navalapitiya
led to the first Sinhalese-Tamil riot in 1939.[40][43] Ponnambalam opposed universal franchise,
supported the caste system, and claimed that the protection of minority rights requires that
minorities (35% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that
of the Sinhalese (65% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy
became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of
having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists
by the Buddhist temporalities act. The Soulbury Commission rejected the submissions by
Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal
character[clarification needed]. Sinhalese writers pointed to the large immigration of Tamils to
the southern urban centres, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway.
Meanwhile, Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the Soulbury
Commission without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was
to later become the draft constitution of 1944.[40]

The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British
administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten. His dispatches and a telegram to
the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having
helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd
cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese
markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal
situation for the newly independent government.

The Second World War

Main article: Ceylon in World War II
Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese during World War II. Sri Lankan
opposition to the war led by the Marxist organizations and the leaders of the LSSP
pro-independence group were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942, the Indian
Ocean raid saw the Japanese Navy bomb Colombo. The Japanese attack led to the flight of
Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector, which removed a major political
problem facing the Senanayake government.[40] Marxist leaders also escaped to India where
they participated in the independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule,
limited to the English-educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centres.
These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this
"heroic" but ineffective approach to the war, the Senanayake government took advantage to
further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the
war, with Lord Louis Mountbatten using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theatre.
Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other
agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless, the Sinhalese continued to push for
independence and the Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war, pushed
to establish a special relationship with Britain.

Meanwhile, the Marxists, identifying the war as an imperialist sideshow and desiring a
proletarian revolution, chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat
strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other
ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands manned by Ceylonese mutinied
against British rule. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this
is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British colony subjects to be shot for
mutiny during World War II.[44] Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard
Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake, held discussions with the Japanese to collaborate in
fighting the British. Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the
anti-British Indian National Army.

The constitutionalists led by D. S. Senanayake succeeded in winning independence. The

Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in
1944. The promise of Dominion status and independence itself had been given by the Colonial
Office.

Independence
The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence,
disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were
more subtle.[45] He subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946,[46] when a
new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury
commission. At the elections of 1947, the UNP won a minority of seats in parliament, but
cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha party of Solomon Bandaranaike and
the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist
leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhalese counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable political
balancing act by Senanayake. The vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics, created by
Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate, opened the field for the Tamil Arasu Kachchi ("Federal
party"), a Tamil sovereignty party led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam who was the lawyer son of a
Christian minister.

Sri Lanka (1948–present)

Main article: History of Sri Lanka (1948–present)
Dominion
See also: Dominion of Ceylon
Dominion status followed on 4 February 1948 with military treaties with Britain, as the upper
ranks of the armed forces were initially British, and British air and sea bases remaining intact.
This was later raised to independence itself and Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of
Sri Lanka. In 1949, with the concurrence of the leaders of the Ceylon Tamils, the UNP
government disenfranchised the Indian Tamil plantation workers.[40][47] This was the price that
Senanayake had to pay to obtain the support of the Kandyan Sinhalese, who felt threatened by
the demographics of the tea estates where the inclusion of the "Indian Tamils" would have
meant electoral defeat for the Kandyan leaders. Senanayke died in 1952 after falling from a
horse and was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake, the then minister of Agriculture. In
1953 he resigned following a massive Hartal ("general strike") by the Left parties against the
UNP. He was followed by John Kotelawala, a senior politician and an uncle of Dudley
Senanayke. Kotelawala did not have the enormous personal prestige or the adroit political
acumen of D. S. Senanayake.[48] He brought to the fore the issue of national languages that D.
S. Senanayake had adroitly kept on the back burner, antagonising the Tamils and the Sinhalese
by stating conflicting policies with regard to the status of Sinhala and Tamil as official languages.
He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically active Buddhist Monks who were
Bandaranaike's supporters.

In 1956, the Senate was abolished and Sinhala was established as the official language, with
Tamil as a second language. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London
were abolished and plantations were nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist
program and to "prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies".

In 1956, the Sinhala Only Act came into being. This established Sinhala as the first and
preferred language in commerce and education. The Act took effect immediately. As a
consequence vast numbers of people mostly Burghers left the country to live abroad as they
rightfully felt discriminated against.

In 1958, the first major riots between Sinhalese and Tamils flared up in Colombo as a direct
result of the government's language policy.

1971 Uprising