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இலங்கை ஜனநாயக சமத்துவ குடியரசு
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
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Anthem: "Sri Lanka Matha"
Music (help·info) , Singing (help·info)
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| Capital |
Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte[1][2]
 6°54′N 79°54′E / 6.9, 79.9 |
| Largest city |
Colombo |
| Official languages |
Sinhala, Tamil |
| Demonym |
Sri Lankan |
| Government |
Democratic Socialist Republic |
| - |
President |
Mahinda Rajapaksa |
| - |
Prime Minister |
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake |
| Independence |
from the United Kingdom |
| - |
Declared |
February 4, 1948 |
| - |
Republic |
May 22, 1972 |
| Area |
| - |
Total |
65,610 km² (122nd)
25,332 sq mi |
| - |
Water (%) |
4.4 |
| Population |
| - |
2005 estimate |
19,668,000[3] (52nd) |
| - |
July 2008 census |
21,128,773 |
| - |
Density |
319/km² (35th)
818/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) |
2005 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$86.72 billion (61st) |
| - |
Per capita |
$4,600 (111th) |
| GDP (nominal) |
2006 estimate |
| - |
Total |
$26.794 billion (78th) |
| - |
Per capita |
$1,355 (117th) |
| Gini (1999–00) |
33.2 (medium) |
| HDI (2007) |
▼0.743 (medium) (99th) |
| Currency |
Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) |
| Time zone |
(UTC+5:30) |
| Internet TLD |
.lk |
| Calling code |
+94 |
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhalese: 
, Tamil: இலங்கை; known as Ceylon before 1972) is an island nation in South Asia, located about 31 kilometres (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India. It is home to around twenty million people.
Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia, and has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times.
Today, the country is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic nation, with
more than a quarter of the population following faiths other than
Buddhism, notably Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population, with Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, forming the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include the Muslim Moors and Malays and the Burghers.
Famous for the production and export of tea, coffee, coconuts and rubber,
Sri Lanka boasts a progressive and modern industrial economy and the
highest per capita income in South Asia. The natural beauty of Sri
Lanka's tropical forests, beaches and landscape, as well as its rich cultural heritage, make it a world famous tourist destination.
After over two thousand years of rule by local kingdoms, parts of Sri Lanka were colonized by Portugal and the Netherlands beginning in the 16th century, before the control of the entire country was ceded to the British Empire in 1815. During World War II, Sri Lanka served as an important base for Allied forces in the fight against the Japanese Empire.[4] A nationalist political movement
arose in the country in the early 20th century with the aim of
obtaining political independence, which was eventually granted by the
British after peaceful negotiations in 1948.
Name
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In ancient times, Sri Lanka was known by a variety of names: ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobane[5] and Arabs referred to it as Serendib (the origin of the word "serendipity").[6] Ceilão was the name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese when they arrived on the island in 1505,[7] which was transliterated into English as Ceylon.[8] In 1972, the official name of the country was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka" (in Sinhala śrī laṃkā, IPA: [ˌʃɾiːˈlaŋkaː]; whereas the island itself is referred to as ලංකාව laṃkāva, IPA: [laŋˈkaːʋə], in Tamil இலங்கை ilaṅkai, iˈlaŋgai). In 1978 it was changed to "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".[9]
The current name is derived from Sanskrit word laṃkā, meaning "resplendent land",[10] which was also the name of the island as described in the ancient Indian epics Mahabharata and the Ramayana. The word "Sri" is a Sanskrit title of veneration.
History
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Landing of King Vijaya depicted in an
Ajanta fresco.
Paleolithic
human settlements have been discovered at excavations in several cave
sites in the Western Plains region and the South-western face of the
Central Hills region. Anthropologists
believe that some discovered burial rites and certain decorative
artifacts exhibit similarities between the first inhabitants of the
island and the early inhabitants of Southern India.
Recent bioanthropological studies have however dismissed these links,
and have placed the origin of the people to the northern parts of India. One of the first written references to the island is found in the Indian epic Ramayana, which described the emperor Ravana as monarch of the powerful kingdom of Lanka, which was created by the divine sculptor Vishwakarma for Kubera, the treasurer of the Gods.[11] English historian James Emerson Tennent also theorized Galle, a southern city in Sri Lanka, was the ancient seaport of Tarshish from which King Solomon is said to have drawn ivory, peacocks and other valuables. The main written accounts of the country's history are the Buddhist chronicles of Mahavansa and Dipavamsa.
The earliest-known inhabitants of the island now known as Sri Lanka were probably the ancestors of the Wanniyala-Aetto people, also known as Veddahs and numbering roughly 3,000. Linguistic analysis has found a correlation of the Sinhalese language with the languages of the Sindh and Gujarat, altho
Classical
from 
