Sri Lanka — map and facts

About Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern tip of the Indian subcontinent, separated from India by the Palk Strait. The capital for administrative purposes is Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, while Colombo serves as the largest city and commercial centre. Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million people. The country is a democratic socialist republic governed under a constitution that provides for an executive presidency and a unicameral parliament. Sri Lanka's economy is driven by services, garment manufacturing, tea and rubber exports, and a growing tourism sector. The country endured a 26-year civil war between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which ended in 2009. In 2022, Sri Lanka experienced a severe economic crisis marked by foreign exchange shortages, high inflation, fuel and medicine scarcities, and widespread protests that led to the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The country subsequently entered an IMF-supported recovery programme.

Geography and Landscape

Sri Lanka covers an area of approximately 65,600 square kilometres. The island's geography is characterised by a mountainous south-central core surrounded by lower-lying coastal plains. The Central Highlands contain Sri Lanka's highest peak, Pidurutalagala, at 2,524 metres, along with the iconic Adam's Peak at 2,243 metres, which is a pilgrimage site for multiple religions. The highland region is covered by dense tea plantations and cloud forests. The Mahaweli River, Sri Lanka's longest at approximately 335 kilometres, originates in the central highlands and flows northeast to the Bay of Bengal. The northern and eastern coasts are characterised by flat, dry lowlands; the Jaffna Peninsula in the north is a limestone plain with important lagoons. The south and west coasts receive heavy rainfall from the southwest monsoon from May to September, while the north and east receive rain from the northeast monsoon from October to January. The island has numerous natural harbours and a coastline of approximately 1,340 kilometres.

History

Sri Lanka's recorded history stretches back over 2,500 years. The Vijaya legend, described in the Mahavamsa chronicle, holds that the island was first settled by an Indo-Aryan prince around the fifth century BCE. By the third century BCE, the Sinhalese kingdoms were well established, and Buddhism was introduced from India during the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa, linked to the missionary activities of Mahinda, son of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. The ancient hydraulic civilisation centred on Anuradhapura, the first capital, created vast irrigation reservoirs called tanks. Polonnaruwa later became the mediaeval capital. Tamil kingdoms and South Indian dynasties played significant roles in the island's political history. Portuguese colonisers arrived in 1505, followed by the Dutch from 1658, and the British, who took the coastal areas in 1796 and the entire island in 1815 with the fall of the Kandyan Kingdom. Independence was declared on 4 February 1948 as Ceylon, and the republic was established in 1972 under the name Sri Lanka. The Tamil separatist conflict began in 1983 and concluded in 2009 with the military defeat of the LTTE.