History of Sri Lanka
As per the records, Sri Lanka’s history is as old as 2,500 years. Over these years, India and Sri Lanka have established great camaraderie in terms of cultural relations. The son of glorious emperor Ashoka, Mahindra is credited to bring Buddhism to Sri Lanka. In fact, he planted a sapling from Bodhgaya’s Bodhi Tree to Anuradhapura. The location at present is a world heritage site, famous for hosting the revered roots to Buddhism.
In the modern history, Sri Lanka attracted many colonialists with vested interests in its natural resources. Portuguese were the first who reached Sri Lankan onshore in 1505. After more than a century and a half, in 1658, Dutch forced out the Portuguese and established their control over whole island country. Kandy, the central kingdom remained free from colonial invasion under Kandyan rule. In 1796, the country attracted attention of the British, who 29 years later invaded Kingdom of Kandy. The British thereafter began taking over full control over the country. They even brought labourers from South India to work in tea, coffee and coconut plantations. By 1833, the whole country came under British control. They renamed Sri Lanka as Ceylon. In 1931, British granted the right to vote and introduced power sharing with Sinhalese run government.
It was in 1948, that Ceylon gained full independence and resorted back to the name of Sri Lanka. After independence, the country had turbulent history. The rough times are now over. And the destination is back to its usual vibrant self, attracting lot of nature and heritage lovers.