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Sri Lankan recorded history, called the Mahavamsa or “Great History” began with the arrival of the Aryan Prince Vijaya who conquered the indigenous people (543 BC). He established the first Sinhalese kingdom. The next era was the early-Anuradhapura period (about 250 BC). King Devanampiya Tissa was the first ruler in the dynasty. It was during this period that a sapling of the Lord Buddha's sacred Bo Tree reached Sri Lanka. It was under this tree that the Lord Budda attained enlightenment. Anuradhapura became a major Buddhist center. King Kasyapa is associated with the late-Anuradhapura Period (459- ). He oversaw the construction of Sigiriya. The next period was the Polonnaruwa. The capital was moved from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa (1073). Three kingdomes became established. The Portugues and the Dutch which followed them defeated the coastal kingdomes, but were unable to successfully penetrate the inland kingdom of Kandy. The spices of the island were a powerful attraction. The British seized the island from the Dutch after the outbreak of the French Revolutuon (1796). It was the British who finally defeated Kandy. The British developed plantations, but Sinhalese resisted wirking on the plantations. The British imported more compliant workers from south India. Many Sinhalese peasants were unable to compete with the plantatioins and lost their land. The indpendence movement grew in strength following World war I. Brirain granted indeoendence as a dominion within the Commonwealth (1948).
We do not yet have information on SrinLankan ore-history.
Sri Lankan recorded history, called the Mahavamsa or “Great History” began with the arrival of the Aryan Prince Vijaya who conquered the indigenous people (543 BC). He established the first Sinhalese kingdom. The next era was the early-Anuradhapura period (about 250 BC). King Devanampiya Tissa was the first ruler in the dynasty. It was during this period that a sapling of the Lord Buddha's sacred Bo Tree reached Sri Lanka. It was under this tree that the Lord Budda attained enlightenment. Anuradhapura became a major Buddhist center. King Kasyapa is associated with the late-Anuradhapura Period (459- ). He oversaw the construction of Sigiriya. The next period was the Polonnaruwa. The capital was moved from Anuradhapura to Polonnaruwa (1073). The Italian trader/explorer, Marco Polo, is believed to have reaced Sri Lanka some time in the late 13th or early 14th century. Sri Lanka at tge time the Portuguese arrived had three principal kingdoms. The Kingdom of Jaffna dominated the north. The Kingdom of Kandy dominated the central highlands. Kotte was the strongest kingdom and dominated the south-west.
Arab maritime tradrs reached Sri Lanka (12th century).
The Portuguesr began the European out reach. Seaking a sea route to Asia, they began sailing south along the African coast (15th century). Bartholomeu Dias reached the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa (1486), showing that Ptolemy was wrong about the possibility of a sea route to Asia. Vasco da Gama reached India (1498). Portugal was thus the first European nation to reach India, the Indies, and China. They landed in Sri Lanka (1505). Lorennso de Almeida led the first Portugese expedition to Sri Lanka. He suceeded in established friendly relations with the king of Kotte. One of the principal European interests in trade with the East was obtaining access to spices. And Kotte granted the Portuguese in the cinamon and other spice trade. Kotte supported by the Portuguese which had modern weapons and naval vessels began expanding. This lead to Portugal taking over mich oif the island. This was a sgift in colonial policy as for the most part Portugal primarily set up coastal trading posts and did not venture inland as it moved down the Aftrican coast. In the wars with Kandy, the Portuguese suffered some defeats and were driven back to the coast. The Portuguese wre not just interested in trade, but made a huge effort to conquer the island and spread tChristianity. The Portuguese were, however, unable to penetrate the inaccessible cebtral highlands. Thus Kandy was able to maintain its independence.
Other Europeans were quick to follow the sea routes opened by the Portuguese. Kandy seeking an ally in its wars with the Portuguese reached out to the Dutch. The result was not exactly what they had hoped. The Dutch did suceed in expelling the Potuguese (1658). The Dutch, however, continuedthe Portuguese effort to conquer the entire island, including Kandy. The Dutch dominated the island for a cebtury and a half. The Dutch, like the Portuguese, attempted, but failed to conquer Kandy.. The Dutch were orimarily unterested un trade and made less of an effort to conquer Kandy and to spread Christianity.
The French Revolution had a huge impact on European colonial empires. While French armies dominated Europe, especially, after the Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Royal Navy pressed its advantage at sea. French armies seized the Netherlands. Britain proceeded to seize Dutch possessions around the world. The British seized the Dutch settlemebts (1795-96). The British made Ceylon a Crown Cilonyb (1802). The British finally defeatedc Kandy and thus control the ebtire island (1815). They quickly moved to estanlished a unified administration for the island (1818). The British unlike the Portuguese and Dutch began a major effort to develop Ceylon. They opened coffee, cinnamon and coconut plantations. And they launched major road and rail construction projects. English became used as a language of commerce abd educaton abd is still wideky spoke in Sri Lanka. Coffee became the principal crop. A leaf blight destroyed coffee plants (1870s).
Rea and rubber grew in importance. Tea continues to be a major crop. British plantation owners offered extremely loiw wages. Many Sinhalese refused to acceot the wages and woirking conditions on the British plantations, The British thus imported more compliant workers from south India. During the British colonia era, many Sinhalese peasants in the hill country lost land, finding it diffifult to compete with the plantations which used low-paid kabor.
One of these least noted naval campaign was the Indian Ocean engaements during early 1942. Admiral Nagumo with the First Air Fleet entered the Indian Ocean with a force of five carriers and four fast battleships as well as cruisers and destroyers (March 26, 1942). The purpose appears to have been to support Army operations in Burma and escort a convoy to Rangoon and then strike the Btitish naval base in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where the Royal Navy had been building a substantial naval force. Incredibly this was a larger carrier force than deployed two months later against Midway. The force succeeded in sinking the British light carrier HMS Hermes, two cruisers, and smaller ships. The Royal Navy was asonished with the power of the Japanese carrier force. At this stage of the War, the Japanese carrier aircraft were far superior to the British carrier aircraft. After the engagement the Royal Navy retired from the eastern Indian Ocean. It is unclear what the value of this campsign was. At the time the only creditable threat to Japan was the badly mauled American Pacific fleet and its four priceless carriers. Any assessment of the military situation would suggest that Japan should have focused on bringing the Pavific fleet to battle to get at those carriers. It is unclear what the purpose of this powerful force was. They could have seized Ceylon or even attacked British facilities in India. While Nagumo had considerable success against the Royal Navy force, the Royal Air Force from bases in Ceylon had downed or damaged a substantial number of Japanese planes. Nagumo had dispersed the British threat, but the American Pacific fleet carriers were still a threat and the British had impaired the combat effectiveness of the First Air Fleet
The Sinhalese like the Indians to the north began to work for indedendence, especially after World war I. The independence movement was not as confrontational as in India. After World War II, Britain's Labor Party granted indeoendence to India (1947). The resulting partition caused a mnassive migration and terrifying communal violence. Britain granted Sri Kanka independence as a dominion witin the Commonwealth (1948). The country followed the British system of parlimentary democracy. D.W. Senanayake was the first primeminister (1948-52). S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (1956-59). He was assasinated and replaced by his widow (1960- ).
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