The Adam's Peak

Map of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean , about 31 km from the India , two countries separated by the Palk Strait , but virtually connected by the bridge of Adam. Its area is 65,610 ^km2 and its population is over 20.4 million. ^History

This island was named the Taprobane on the map of Ptolemy. She played an important role in maritime trade during ancient times.

The Buddhism was introduced into the island in the ^third century BC. BC , probably under the impetus of the Indian emperor Ashoka.

Statue of Buddha at Dambulla

A successful civilization flourished in cities like Anuradhapura ( ^second century BC. - 1000 ) and Polonnaruwa ( 1070 - 1200 ). This civilization, during the ^fifth century created a society centered around hydrological huge artificial water reservoirs and under the influence of Buddhism.

Sri Lanka experienced on several occasions, the occupation of kings Tamil , especially under the rule of Cholas in South India.

The Mahavamsa ("Great genealogy") is a written text ^(fourth century) in Pali by the monk Mahanama. This text tells the stories of the Dravidian and Sinhalese kings of the island. It covers a period from the accession of King Vijaya in 543 BC to the reign of King Mahasen (334-361 AD). The Chulavamsa, or "little genealogy" continued this tradition until the ^nineteenth written sicle.Depuis 1070 the Sinhalese and Tamils compete to occupy the greater part of the territory. Found opposition Buddhism and Hinduism.

According to Sinhala texts, the southern part of the island has suffered two attacks from Candrabhanu, ruler of the principality of discomfort Tambralinga (now Nakhon Si Thammarat in southern Thailand ). The first took place in 1247. Candrabhanu was defeated by King Parakramabahu II (reigned 1236-1270). He nonetheless managed to take control of the northern island. Candrabhanu launches a second attack in 1262, this time with the help of Tamil and Sinhalese forces. He is again defeated and killed in combat. The influence of Tambralinga disappeared in the fourteenth century. This episode is the only example of a Southeast Asian shipping in from outside the boundaries of the region.

The maritime part of the island fell under the control of Portugal in the ^sixteenth century , then under the Dutch in the next century, finally as a province of the British Empire in 1796. By agreement of Kandy, the British took control of the island in 1815. The British administration introduced the cultivation of tea in Ceylon, and a rail network. Some historians

The Second World War delayed the ethnic unrest on the island, and a moderate government, led by DS Senanayake, Prime Minister, declared independence on 4 February 1948. After Senanayake's death, a Sinhalese nationalist coalition led by Bandaranaike won the elections. The government of SWRD Bandaranaike to power in 1956 , introduced the Sinhala as the sole official language.

Tamils, especially Tamil separatist party (Tamil Arasu kacha) used the nationalist sentiment of the community, to organize protests against the use of a single official language. Clashes between Tamils and Sinhalese in the 1950s to the 1970s and especially in 1983 led to a polarization of Sri Lankan society into two hostile groups. In 1977 , an amendment to the Act recognizes the Tamil language as official language (alongside Sinhalese). This law came too late.

A civil war between the central government and the organization of the Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam gained momentum after 1983. But taking into account the events prior to the war itself, it has killed more than 100,000 people since 1972 , after the truce of 2002-2005, the conflict is gaining in magnitude from August 2007 and returned a decisive phase in 2009, marked by the capture of the main strongholds of the LTTE by government troops. The LTTE announced cease fighting May 17, 2009, their founder and leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is killed May 18, 2009 and the head of the Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse formally announce Tuesday, May 19, 2009 in Parliament by the end of the war Preparedness.

Indeed, the death May 18, 2009 to Velupillai Prabhakaran, has marked the end of Colombo led war against the Tamil Tigers for nearly thirty years. He was killed in the jungles of Sri Lanka where he has spent most of his life. Surrounded by a last square of the faithful, including his son, Charles Anthony, he delivered a last stand before being shot by the army that hunted for months. The authorities knew that getting rid of him, they beheaded a move that plunged the country into a bloody conflict and caused the deaths of at least 80,000 people since 1983.

Sri Lanka was hit by the tsunami of 26 December 2004 which has claimed more than 30,000 dead.

Politics and administration

The people elect a president for a term of six years renewable once. It is both the head of state , the head of government and commander in chief of the armed forces. The President is responsible to parliament for its actions and respect the constitution and laws. It can be revoked by a vote of two thirds of parliamentarians with the agreement of the Supreme Court. The president appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers , responsible to parliament. The current President of the Republic is Mahinda Rajapakse and was reelected on 26/01/2010 by majority vote.

The parliament unicameral parliament of 225 elected in universal suffrage. Parliamentarians are elected in each province by multi-member proportional representation for a term of six years. The president can dissolve parliament and force new elections once a year. Parliament passes laws. The parliament speaker, who is the leader of the majority party in parliament, plays the role of prime minister.

Sri Lanka has experienced a civil war from 1980 , which had its epilogue in May 2009.

Administrative Subdivisions

According to current politics, Sri Lanka can be considered to have eight or nine provinces, which in turn divided into 25 districts.

Important cities:

• Colombo
• Sri Jayawardenapura , capital
• Jaffna
• Gall
• Kandy , the ancient capital, 520 m, 120 000 inhabitants. Temple of the Tooth of Buddha , artificial lake
• Nuwara Eliya , station altitude (2040 m)
• Trincomalee , located in a bay on the east coast
• Batticaloa
• Kilinochchi

Economy

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Sri Lanka was about 27 billion in 2004. During the winter of that year, a massive tsunami devastated the country. A painful reconstruction, made even more difficult by internal conflicts, was then initiated. Selected Economic Indicators for 2003 ^Production

The primary sector represents 12.6% of the total production. In Sri Lanka, growing mainly rice, sugarcane, all kinds of grains, spices, fruits and vegetables, tea, rubber, coconut, beef and fish.

Regarding the secondary sector, it is given 29.7% of total production. Among the most important are the processing of rubber, tea industry, the coconut, tobacco and several other raw materials (goods) for agriculture, as well as telecommunications, insurance and banking. Tourism, textiles, cement, oil refining, services of information technology and construction.

The tertiary sector is the largest place with 57.7% of total production. Of the 18 airports that are in the country, 14 of them are paved. There are 1,449 kilometers of railways and 91,907 km of roads.

Population and Society

Demographics

Demographic changes between 1961 and 2003, thousands of inhabitants (the FAO , 2005)

In 2003, the population of Sri Lanka was 20.4 million. Some demographic data for 2003 ^Health

• Life expectancy: 74 years
• Fertility Rate (2000-2005): 2
• Infant mortality rate: 17
• Population under 15 years: 24.8% of total
• Population 65 years and over: 5.8% of total

Education

• Public expenditure on education (1999-2001): 1.3% of GDP
• Adult literacy rate: 95.4%

Religions

Statues of Buddha at Gal Viharaya

Buddhist 77%, Hindu 15%, Muslims and Christians 7.5%.

Society

Sri Lanka has been, for decades one of the countries with the highest suicide rates in the world . However, the number of suicides went from record 8449 deaths or 46.6 in 1995 to 4225 is 21 in 2007 . This decrease can be explained by various measures taken in the mid-1990s whose principal was the decriminalization of suicide in eliminating the stigma related to it .

Languages

Official Language: Sinhala 70%, national languages: Tamil 20%, other 10% (Note: English is commonly spoken by the government and more generally by 10% of the population of Sri Lanka). However, the country's political tolerate "hard" use and teaching of Tamil. Finally, a speaker had to speak Tamil Sinhalese to be able to contact or make requests in the Administration. This linguistic segregation becomes a little less common, but continues on religion via the Tamil (one uses their religion to Tamil, like Latin for Catholics).

According to the CIA World Fact Book, the ethnic groups : 70% Sinhalese, Tamils 30% (7.2% Muslims, 4.6% Indian Tamils, Sinhalese and Tamils that).

Holidays

• January ¹ : Day of the Year
• January 14 : Pongal day
• February 4 : Day of Independence (on 4 February 1948 )
• April 14 : New Year's Day traditional
• May ¹ : Day of May Day
• October 21 : Day of Deepawali
• December 25 : Day of Christmas
• Each Full Moon Poya Day. Since Buddha was born, had the Enlightenment, and died days of full moon. Day dedicated to prayer.

At the time of the Esala , the moon of July-August, the relic deposited in the Temple of the Tooth walks the streets of Kandy which was held on Perahera in honor of a dog's Buddha. Ten nights, surrounded by buffoons, musicians and dancers, elephants escorted him through the streets of the city. The night of the full moon, the festival reaches its climax. Up to a hundred elephants at once marched many of which are "decorated" commercials.

Cultural Heritage

Archaeological and Natural

Anuradhapura

Polonnaruwa

Archaeological sites:

• Anuradhapura
• Dambulla
• Sigiriya
• Mihintale
• Polonnaruwa , the capital of Sri Lanka from ^eighth to ^fourteenth century

Others:

• Adam's Peak
• Horton Plains National Park
• Sinharaja Forest Reserve

Music

People Sinhalese

• Chandrika Kumaratunga
• JR Jayawardene
• Mahinda Rajapakse

Personalities Tamil

• Velupillai Prabhakaran
• SP Thamilchelvan
• Pathmanathan

Additions

Codes

Sri Lanka has the code:

• 4R , according to the list of prefixes ICAO aircraft registration ,
• EC , according to the list of country codes used by NATO , alpha-2 code,
• CL , according to the list of international codes of plates ,
• LK , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code (list of country codes)
• . Lk , according to the list of Internet TLDs ( top level domain )
• LKA , according to the standard ISO 3166-1 (list of country codes), code alpha-3,
• LKA , by a href = "% C3% Liste_des_codes_pays_utilis A9s_par_l 27OTAN%" title = "List of country codes used by NATO"> list of country codes used by NATO, alpha code -2,
• IRS , according to the list of country codes IOC ,
• VC , according to the list of prefixes ICAO airport codes ,

See also

References