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96-512: Colombo ( / k ə ˈ l ʌ m b oʊ / kə- LUM -boh ; Sinhala : කොළඹ , romanized:  Koḷam̆ba , IPA: [ˈkoləᵐbə] ; Tamil : கொழும்பு , romanized:  Koḻumpu , IPA: [koɻumbɯ] ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution , the Colombo metropolitan area has

192-783: A supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to the chronicle Mahāvaṃsa , written in Pali, Prince Vijaya of the Vanga Kingdom and his entourage merged in Sri Lanka with later settlers from the Pandya kingdom . In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India, including additional migration from the Vanga Kingdom (Bengal), as well as Kalinga and Magadha . This influx led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. The development of Sinhala

288-413: A tropical rainforest climate ( Af ). Colombo's climate is hot throughout the year. From March to April the average high temperature is around 31 °C (87.8 °F). The only major change in the Colombo weather occurs during the monsoon seasons from April to June and September to November, when heavy rains occur. Colombo sees little relative diurnal range of temperature, although this is more marked in

384-653: A Dravidian origin for this word. ), dola for pig in Vedda and offering in Sinhala. Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones (in toponyms used throughout the island, although others have also suggested a Dravidian origin). There are also high frequency words denoting body parts in Sinhala, such as olluva for head, kakula for leg, bella for neck and kalava for thighs, that are derived from pre-Sinhalese languages of Sri Lanka. The oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsan̆garavā , written in

480-529: A ferry service to Tuticorin , India. Ferry services between the two countries have been revived after more than 20 years. Ratmalana Airport is the city's airport, located 15 km (9.3 mi) south of the city centre. It commenced operating in 1935 and was the country's first international airport until it was replaced by Bandaranaike Airport in 1967. Ratmalana Airport now primarily services domestic flights, aviation training and international corporate flights. The two World Trade Centre towers used to be

576-516: A long history. Colombo has many of the prominent public schools in the country, some of them government-owned and others private. Most of the prominent schools in the city date back to the 1800s when they were established during the British colonial rule, such as the Royal College Colombo established in 1835. Certain urban schools of Sri Lanka have some religious alignment; this is partly due to

672-629: A metropolis of international standards. Bottlenecks are preventing the Colombo metropolitan area from realizing its full economic potential. To facilitate the transformation of Colombo, the government has to address these bottlenecks which have for long been obstructing economic and physical urban regeneration. Pettah is more crowded than the Fort area. Pettah's roads are always packed and pavements are full of small stalls selling items from delicious sharbat to shirts . Main Street consists mostly of clothes shops and

768-407: A mix of numerous ethnic groups, mainly Sinhalese , Sri Lankan Moor and Sri Lankan Tamils , . There are also small communities of people with Chinese , Portuguese Burgher , Dutch Burgher , Malay and Indian origins living in the city, as well as numerous European expatriates. Colombo is the most populous city in Sri Lanka, with 642,163 people living within the city limits. In 1866 the city had

864-583: A non-Muslim or a fellow Muslim in a different region. The Sri Lankan Moors have been strongly shaped by Islamic culture, with many customs and practices according to Islamic law. While preserving many of their ancestral South Asian customs, the Moors have over time adopted several Arabic-Islamic practices. The Moors practice several customs and beliefs which they closely share with the Arab , Sri Lankan Tamils , and Sinhalese People . Tamil and Sinhala customs such as wearing

960-722: A period of prior bilingualism: "The earliest type of contact in Sri Lanka, not considering the aboriginal Vedda languages, was that which occurred between South Dravidian and Sinhala. It seems plausible to assume prolonged contact between these two populations as well as a high degree of bilingualism. This explains why Sinhala looks deeply South Dravidian for an Indo-Aryan language. There is corroboration in genetic findings." In addition to many Tamil loanwords , several phonetic and grammatical features also present in neighbouring Dravidian languages set modern spoken Sinhala apart from its Northern Indo-Aryan relatives. These features are evidence of close interactions with Dravidian speakers. Some of

1056-524: A population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 in the Municipality . It is the financial centre of the island and a tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to the Greater Colombo area which includes Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte , the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, and Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia . Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte

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1152-526: A population of around 80,000. Religion in Colombo Municipality area (2012) Colombo is a charter city , with a mayor-council government . The mayor and council members are elected through local government elections held once in five years. For the past 50 years the city had been ruled by the United National Party (UNP), a right leaning party, whose business-friendly policies resonate with

1248-492: A significant distance from Indian Tamils. The Nei genetic distance for Sinhalese and Moors is 0.0123, SL Tamil and Moors is 0.0233 while Indian Tamil and Moors 0.0293. The study was carried on the X-STRs DXS10148, DXS10135, DXS8378, DXS7132, DXS10079, DXS10074, DXS10075, DXS6801, DXS6809, DXS6789, DXS7424, DXS101, DXS7133, DXS9902, HPRTB and DXS7423. Sri Lankan Moor Population and Percentage Depending on where they live in

1344-544: Is St.Paul's Church Milagiriya , one of the oldest churches in Sri Lanka, first built by the Portuguese and rebuilt by the British in 1848. The Cargills & Millers building in Fort is also a protected building of historical significance. Cannons that were once mounted on the rampart of the old fort of Colombo were laid out for observance and prestige at the Green. The colonial styled Galle Face Hotel , known as Asia's Emerald on

1440-473: Is a conspicuous example of the linguistic phenomenon known as diglossia . Sinhala ( Siṁhala ) is a Sanskrit term; the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan ( Eḷu ) word is Sīhala . The name is a derivative of [[[:wikt:सिंह|siṁha]]] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) , the Sanskrit word for 'lion'. The name is sometimes glossed as 'abode of lions', and attributed to

1536-584: Is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka , who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. Sinhala is also spoken as the first language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, totalling about 2 million speakers as of 2001. It is written using the Sinhala script , which is a Brahmic script closely related to the Grantha script of South India. Sinhala

1632-499: Is an extension of the Tamil tradition. The Sri Lankan Moors along with Mukkuvar dominated once in medieval era the pearl trade in Sri Lanka . Alliances and intermarriages between both communities were observed in this period. They held close contact with other Muslims of Southern India through coastal trade. The Moors had their own court of justice for settling their disputes. Upon

1728-496: Is divided into 15 numbered areas for the purposes of postal services. Within these areas are the suburbs with their corresponding post office. The great majority of Sri Lankan corporations have their head offices in Colombo including Aitken Spence , Ceylinco Corporation , Stassen group of companies, John Keells Holdings , Cargills , Hemas Holdings, SenzMate and Akbar Brothers. Some of the industries include chemicals, textiles, glass, cement, leather goods, furniture and jewellery. In

1824-479: Is divided into four epochs: The most important phonetic developments of Sinhala include: According to Wilhelm Geiger , an example of a possible Western feature in Sinhala is the retention of initial /v/ which developed into /b/ in the Eastern languages (e.g. Sanskrit viṁśati "twenty", Sinhala visi- , Hindi bīs ). This is disputed by Muhammad Shahidullah who says that Sinhala Prakrit branched off from

1920-613: Is found in the Southern, Western, and Central provinces with some variations and other linguistic features within it. As an example, Muslims in the Western province, especially in Colombo tend to code-mix their speech with Tamil and English terms. On the other hand, NEMT is found in Northern and Eastern provinces. One phonological variation between these two sub-dialects is that SMT replaces the Tamil sound /sa/ with /sha/. Another phonological variation

2016-608: Is full of jewellery shops, including the former head office of SriLankan Airlines . The Sri Lanka Police , the main law enforcement agency of the island, liaise with the municipal council but is under the control of the Ministry of Defence of the central government. Policing in Colombo and its suburbs falls within the Metropolitan Range headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Metropolitan), this also includes

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2112-520: Is itself within the urban/suburban area of Colombo. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the district capital of Colombo District . Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life, colonial buildings and monuments. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when

2208-587: Is known for the variety of products available as well as the Khan Clock Tower , a local landmark. At present, it refers to the city limits of the Colombo Municipal Council . More often, the name is used for the Conurbation known as Greater Colombo , which encompasses several Municipal councils including Kotte , Dehiwela and Colombo. Although Colombo lost its status as the capital of Sri Lanka in

2304-531: Is kola and thence they called the Tree Colambo: which the Christians in honour of Christopher Columbus turned to Columbo." The author of the oldest Sinhala grammar, Sidatsangarava, written in the 13th century wrote about a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. It lists naramba (to see) and kolamba (fort or harbour) as deriving from the indigenous Vedda language . Kolamba may also be

2400-480: Is not the majority language. The Tamil dialect spoken by Muslims in Sri Lanka is identified as Sri Lankan Muslim Tamil (SLMT). It is a social dialect of Sri Lankan Tamil that falls under the larger category of the colloquial variety of Tamil. SLMT has distinct phonological , morphological and lexical differences in comparison to other varieties of SLT since it is influenced by the Arabic language. Due to this, we can see

2496-580: Is one of the most distinctive landmarks of Colombo and was used for centuries by colonists to defend the city. It remains a tourist attraction, hosting regattas , and theatrical events on its shores. The northern and north-eastern border of the city of Colombo is formed by the Kelani River , which meets the sea in a part of the city known as the Modera ( mōdara in Sinhala) which means river delta . Colombo features

2592-602: Is one of the most important temples in Colombo. The temple's architecture demonstrates an eclectic mix of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and Chinese architecture. The Viharamahadevi Park (formerly Victoria Park) is an urban park located next to the National Museum of Colombo and the Town Hall . It is the oldest and largest park in Colombo and features a large Buddha statue. As part of the Urban Regeneration Program of

2688-412: Is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, alongside Tamil . Along with Pali , it played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. Early forms of the Sinhala language are attested as early as the 3rd century BCE. The language of these inscriptions, still retaining long vowels and aspirated consonants, is a Prakrit similar to Magadhi , a regional associate of

2784-516: Is that SMT uses voiced plosives such as /b, d, j, g/ whereas NEMT uses voiceless plosives such as /v, p, t, c, k/ instead of them. Another symbolic representation of the Southern variety is the shortening of Tamil verbs. As an example, the verb ‘to come’ known as ‘varukhudu’ in SLT/NEMT would be shortened and pronounced as ‘varudu.’ Furthermore, the Moors like their counterparts in Tamil Nadu , use

2880-713: Is that the name is derived from the Sinhala name කොල-අඹ-තොට , பெருங்குடல் துறைமுகம் Kola-amba-thota which means 'Harbour with leafy/green mango trees'. This coincides with Robert Knox 's history of the island while he was a prisoner in Kandy. He writes that "On the West, the City of Columbo, so-called from a Tree the Natives call Ambo, (which bears the Mango-fruit) growing in that place; but this never bear fruit, but only leaves, which in their Language

2976-521: Is the engine of growth for Sri Lanka. The Western province contributes less than 40% to the GDP and about 80% of industrial value additions although it accounts for only 5.7% of the country's geographic area and 25% of the national population. Given its importance as the primary international gateway for Sri Lanka and as the main economic driver of the country, the government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has launched an ambitious program to transform Colombo and its area into

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3072-728: The Arwi which is a written register of the Tamil language with the use of the Arabic alphabet. The Arwi alphabet is unique to the Muslims of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, hinting at erstwhile close relations between the Tamil Muslims across the two territories. However, SLMT is only a spoken variety that is limited to the domestic sphere of the community members and is something shared with the Marrakar community of Tamil Nadu. In addition, they frequently tend to code-switch and code-mix when they communicate with

3168-451: The Government of Sri Lanka , many old sites and buildings were revamped into modern public recreational spaces and shopping precincts. These include Independence Memorial Hall Square , Pettah Floating Market and Old Dutch Hospital , among others. Ethnicity in Colombo Municipality area (2012) Colombo is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural city. The population of Colombo is

3264-700: The Middle Indian Prakrits that had been used during the time of the Buddha . The most closely related languages are the Vedda language (an endangered, indigenous creole still spoken by a minority of Sri Lankans, mixing Sinhala with an isolate of unknown origin and from which Old Sinhala borrowed various aspects into its main Indo-Aryan substrate), and the Maldivian language . It has two main varieties, written and spoken, and

3360-796: The Muslims from the Northern Province was an act of ethnic cleansing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in October 1990. In Northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE forcibly expelled the Muslim population from the Northern Province at gunpoint and confiscated their properties. Yogi, the LTTE's political spokesman, claimed that this expulsion was carried out in retaliation for atrocities committed against

3456-632: The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) , the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and telephone service providers operating in the country respectively. Colombo was the capital of the coastal areas controlled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British from the 1700s to 1815 when the British gained control of the entire island following the Kandyan convention . From then until the 1980s

3552-672: The President's House , Presidential Secretariat , Prime Minister's House (Temple Trees), Prime Minister's Office , the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka , Central Bank of Sri Lanka , important government ministries and departments; such as Finance (Treasury), Defence , Public Administration & Home affairs, Foreign affairs , Justice and the Military headquarters , Naval headquarters ( SLNS Parakrama ), Air Force headquarters ( SLAF Colombo ) and Police national and field force headquarters. Colombo

3648-629: The Tamils in the Eastern Province by Muslims, who were seen by the LTTE as collaborators of the Sri Lankan Army . Sri Lanka's Muslims still hold a bitter grudge for their forced expulsion from the North by the LTTE. In 2002, LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran formally apologized for the expulsion of the Muslims from the North. There has been a stream of Muslims travelling in and out of Jaffna since

3744-504: The Thaali or eating Kiribath were widely prevalent among the Moors. Arab customs such as congregational eating using a large shared plate called the 'sahn' and wearing of the North African fez during marriage ceremonies feed to the view that Moors are of mixed Sinhalese, Tamil, and Arab heritage. The late 19th century saw the phase of Islamization of Sri Lankan Moors, primarily under

3840-576: The UNESCO National Commission of Ceylon According to Wilhelm Geiger , Sinhala has features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages. Some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language . Sinhala has many words that are only found in Sinhala, or shared between Sinhala and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Possible examples include kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda (although others suggest

3936-475: The cophenetic correlation was 0.8956 which indicates Sinhalese & Tamil as native population. Also, he reflected on the genetic distance among five populations of Sri Lanka as per given below eigenvector plot of the R-matrix . Burgher Malay Moor Tamil Sinhalese According to a study published in 2021 using 16 X-chromosomal short tandem repeat markers (STRs) conducted on 838 unrelated individuals from

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4032-535: The separatist Tamil militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE attempted to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in northeast Sri Lanka. Since 1888, under the initiative of Ponnambalam Ramanathan , the Sri Lankan Tamils launched a campaign to classify Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan Moors as Tamils , primarily to bolster their population numbers for the impending transition to democratic rule in Sri Lanka . Their view holds that

4128-464: The 13th century CE, recognised a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. The grammar lists naram̆ba (to see) and koḷom̆ba (fort or harbour) as belonging to an indigenous source. Koḷom̆ba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo . The consistent left branching syntax and the loss of aspirated stops in Sinhala is attributed to a probable South Dravidian substratum effect. This has been explained by

4224-411: The 1980s to Sri Jayawardanapura, it continues to be the island's commercial centre. Despite the official capital of Sri Lanka moving to the adjacent Sri Jayawardanapura Kotte, most countries still maintain their diplomatic missions in Colombo. The geography of Colombo consists of both land and water. The city has many canals and, in the heart of the city, the 65-hectare (160-acre) Beira Lake . The lake

4320-522: The 9th century, and who intermarried with local Tamil and Sinhala women. Recent genetic studies, however, have suggested a predominant Indian origin for Moors compared to the Arab origin speculated by some. Perera et al. (2021) in their genetic analysis of the Moors stated the following in their report: " In contrast, Sri Lankan Moors have descended exclusively from Muslim male merchants of either Arabic or of Indian origin, who came to Sri Lanka for trading. During

4416-527: The Central Bus Stand and Fort Railway Station function as the island's primary hub for bus and rail transport respectively. Up until the 1970s, the city had tram services, which were discontinued. Other means of transport include auto rickshaws (commonly called "three-wheelers") and taxicabs . Three-wheelers are entirely operated by individuals and hardly regulated whilst cab services are run by private companies and are metered. Post-war development in

4512-534: The Colombo Crime Division. As with most Sri Lankan cities, the magistrate court handles felony crimes while the district court handles civil cases. As in other large cities around the world, Colombo experiences certain levels of street crime and bribery . Indeed, the corruption extends to the very top, US reports show. In addition, in the period from the 1980s to 2009, there have been a number of major terrorist attacks. The LTTE has been linked to most of

4608-533: The Colombo area also involves the construction of numerous expressway grade arterial road routes. The first of these constructed is the Southern Expressway , which goes from Kottawa , a southern suburb of Colombo, to Matara City in the south of the country. Expressways constructed in the Colombo metropolitan area include the Colombo–Katunayake Expressway , which was opened in October 2013 and

4704-461: The Colombo orbital bypass Outer Circular Highway ( Arthur C. Clarke Expressway ). The Colombo-Katunayake Expressway (E03) runs from Peliyagoda , a northern suburb of Colombo, to Colombo International Airport and it is linked with one of the major commercial hubs and a major tourist destination of the country, the city of Negombo . An international ferry liner, the Scotia Prince , is conducting

4800-444: The Dutch and the British is visible in Colombo's architecture, names, clothing, food, language and attitudes. Buildings from all three eras stand as reminders of the turbulent past of Colombo. The city and its people show an interesting mix of European clothing and lifestyles together with local customs. Historically, Colombo referred to the area around the Fort and Pettah Market which

4896-522: The Dutch and the Kandyans but were gradually defeated in their strongholds beginning in 1639. The Dutch captured Colombo in 1656 after an epic siege, at the end of which a mere 93 Portuguese survivors were given safe conduct out of the fort. Although the Dutch (e.g., Rijcklof van Goens ) initially restored the captured area back to the Sinhalese kings, they later refused to turn them over and gained control over

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4992-700: The Eastern Prakrits prior to this change. He cites the edicts of Ashoka , no copy of which shows this sound change. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular (instead of Western -o ) in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets , one example being the words mæssā ("fly") and mækkā ("flea"), which both correspond to Sanskrit makṣikā but stem from two regionally different Prakrit words macchiā (Western Prakrits) and makkhikā (as in Eastern Prakrits like Pali ). In 1815,

5088-443: The Green since 1864, is adjacent to Galle Face Green. The hotel has played host to guests such as the British Royal Family and other royal guests and celebrities. After a stay at the hotel, Princess Alexandra of Denmark commented that "the peacefulness and generosity encountered at the Galle Face Hotel cannot be matched." Also facing Galle Face Green is the Ceylon Inter-Continental Hotel. Education institutions in Colombo have

5184-425: The Kotte kingdom and forced the Portuguese to retreat to Colombo, which was repeatedly besieged by Mayadunne and the later kings of Sitawaka, forcing them to seek reinforcement from their major base in Goa , India. Following the fall of the kingdom in 1593, the Portuguese were able to establish complete control over the coastal area, with Colombo as their capital. This part of Colombo is still known as Fort and houses

5280-409: The Moors. Sri Lanka being a predominately agricultural economy, International trade was underdeveloped during the medieval period. The arrival and settlement of Arab-Muslim merchants on the island's coastal regions initiated overseas trade and helped unlock the country's economic potential. The Sri Lankan Civil War was a 26-year conflict fought on the island of Sri Lanka between the government and

5376-416: The Portuguese and Dutch before them, whose primary use of Colombo was as a military fort, the British began constructing houses and other civilian structures around the fort, giving rise to the current City of Colombo. Initially, they placed the administration of the city under a " Collector ", and John Macdowell of the Madras Service was the first to hold the office. Then, in 1833, the Government Agent of

5472-575: The Sonakar. Many Sri Lankan Moors are Marakkars , and share the same history with Tamil Nadu Marakkars in particular, and Marakkars from Kerala. This can be seen from the large number of prominent Sri Lankan Moors who hold the surname of Marikkar (and its variations) and through the extremely strong linguistic and cultural similarities held by these communities. It is said there has been a strong relationship between Marakkar communities through endogamous marriages . The similarities have been described as "enormous" by M. M. M. Mahroof. Some scholars hold

5568-450: The Sri Lankan Moors were mainly Tamil converts to Islam . According to some Tamil nationalists , the concept of Arab descent amongst the Tamil-speaking Moors was invented just to keep the community separate from the Tamils, and this 'separate identity' intended to check the latter's demand for the separate state of Tamil Eelam and to flare up hostilities between the two groups in the broader Tamil–Sinhalese conflict . The expulsion of

5664-407: The Sri Lankan economy. The per capita income of the Colombo Metro area stood at US$ 8623 and purchasing power per capita of $ 25,117, making it one of the most prosperous regions in South Asia. The Colombo Metropolitan (CM) area is the most important industrial, commercial and administrative centre in Sri Lanka. A major share of the country's export-oriented manufacturing takes place in the CM area, which

5760-426: The Western Province was charged with the administration of the city. Centuries of colonial rule had meant a decline of indigenous administration of Colombo and in 1865 the British conceived a Municipal Council as a means of training the local population in self-governance . The Legislative Council of Ceylon constituted the Colombo Municipal Council in 1865 and the Council met for the first time on 16 January 1866. At

5856-432: The arrival of the Portuguese colonisers in the 16th century, a large population of Moors was expelled from cities such as the capital city Colombo , which had been a Moor-dominated city at that time. The Moors migrated to the eastern part of the island, and settled there through the invitation of the Kingdom of Kandy . Robert Knox , a British sea captain of the 17th century, noted that the Kings of Kandy built mosques for

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5952-465: The arrival of the Portuguese colonists. The term "Moor" was chosen because of the Islamic faith of these people and was not a reflection of their origin. The Tamil term Sonakar along with the Sinhala term Yonaka , has been thought to have been derived from the term Yona , a term originally applied to Greeks, but sometimes also Arabs and other West Asians. Historically, all Tamil speaking Muslim communities in India and Sri Lanka were known as

6048-478: The bombings and assassinations in the city. Welikada Prison is situated in Colombo and it is one of the largest maximum-security prisons in the country. Colombo has most of the amenities that a modern city has. Compared to other parts of the country, Colombo has the highest degree of infrastructure. Electricity, water and transport to street lights and phone booths are to a considerably good standard. Apart from that, many luxurious hotels, clubs and restaurants are in

6144-422: The city centre is the World Trade Centre . The 40-story Twin Tower complex is the centre of important commercial establishments, in the Fort district, the city's nerve centre. Right outside the Fort area is Pettah which is derived from the Sinhala word pita which means 'out' or 'outside'. The Colombo Metropolitan area has a GDP (PPP) of $ 122 billion or 40% of the GDP, making it the most important aspect of

6240-410: The city's inhabitants and on the country as a whole, the changes that resulted at the end of the colonial period were drastic. An entire new culture took root. Changes in laws and customs, clothing styles, religions and proper names were a significant result of the colonial era. These cultural changes were followed by the strengthening of the island's economy. Even today, the influence of the Portuguese,

6336-412: The city. In recent times there has been an outpour of high-rise condominiums, mainly due to the very high land prices. Colombo Harbour is the largest and one of the busiest ports in Sri Lanka. Colombo was established primarily as a port city during the colonial era, with an artificial harbour that has been expanded over the years. The Sri Lanka Navy maintains a naval base , SLNS Rangalla , within

6432-439: The coastal areas of the island, including in Colombo. As part of the treaty, the Portuguese were given full authority over the coastline in exchange for the promise of guarding the coast against invaders. They were allowed to establish a trading post in Colombo. Within a short time, however, they expelled the Muslim inhabitants of Colombo and began to build a fort in 1517. The Portuguese soon realised that control of Sri Lanka

6528-416: The country are also different when compared with the SLT terms, but are shared with Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu . The following are some terms that show the difference between SLMT and most varieties of SLT/Tamil. Interestingly, one can also notice ethno-regional variations in SLMT and categorise them into two major sub-dialects such as North-Eastern Muslim Tamil (NEMT) and Southern Muslim Tamil (SMT). SMT

6624-417: The country, they may also additionally speak Tamil , Sinhala and or English . According to the 2012 Census 58.7% or 862,397 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke Sinhala and 30.4% or 446,146 Sri Lankan Moors also spoke English. Moorish Tamil bears the influence of Arabic. The vast majority of Sri Lankan Muslims speak Tamil as their mother tongue. Religious sermons are delivered in Tamil even in regions where Tamil

6720-430: The crossroads, which are known as Cross-Streets where each of the five streets specialises in a specific business. For example, First Cross Street is mostly electronic goods shops, the Second cellular phones and fancy goods. Most of these businesses are dominated by Muslim traders. At the end of Main Street further away from Fort is Sea Street – Sri Lanka's gold market – dominated by Tamil interests. This mile-long street

6816-429: The dominant one.' Historian Patrick Peebles states by the end of the 19th century Sri Lankan Muslims comprised about 6–7 percent of the population, and that "the majority of Muslims were of South Indian origin and spoke Tamil." Another view suggests that the Arab traders, however, adopted the Sinhalese and Tamil languages only after settling in Sri Lanka. The cultural practices of the Moors also vary significantly from

6912-466: The drier winter months, where minimum temperatures average 22 °C (71.6 °F). Rainfall in the city averages around 2,500 millimetres (98 in) a year. Galle Face Green is located in the heart of the city along the Indian Ocean coast and is a destination for tourists and residents alike. The Galle Face Hotel is a historic landmark on the southern edge of this promenade. Gangaramaya Temple

7008-473: The end of the war. Some families have returned and the re-opened Osmania College , a public school in Jaffna which was once a prominent educational institution for the city's Muslim community. According to a Jaffna Muslim source, there is a floating population of about 2,000 Muslims in Jaffna. Around 1,500 are Jaffna Muslims, while the rest are Muslims from outside of Jaffna. About 10 Muslim shops are functioning and

7104-586: The features that may be traced to Dravidian influence are: ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නවා dannavā know ඒක අලුත් කියලා මම දන්නවා ēka aḷut kiyalā mama dannavā it new having-said I know "I know that it is new." ඒක ēka it අලුත් aḷut new ද da Q කියලා kiyalā having-said මම mama I දන්නේ Sri Lankan Moors The Sri Lankan Moors are of diverse origins with some tracing their ancestry to Arab traders who first settled in Sri Lanka around

7200-421: The four major ethnicities, there is a sex biased demographic history among Sri Lankan ethnicities. According to analysis of molecular variance , Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Moors are highly panmictic but Indian Tamils had statistically significant genetic subdivision from both Sinhalese and Moors. According to the genetic distance calculated the Moors were closest to Sinhalese and then Sri Lankan Tamil with

7296-628: The fourteenth century, they started to settle in coastal areas in Sri Lanka and espoused local women, who were either Sinhalese or Sri Lankan Tamil ". The concentration of Moors is the highest in the Ampara , Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts. The Portuguese called the Muslims in India and Sri Lanka Mouros , after the Muslim Moors known to them in Iberia . The word Moors did not exist in Sri Lanka before

7392-558: The government-owned Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) . The three primary bus terminals – Bastian Mawatha, Central and the Gunasinghapura Bus Terminals – are in Pettah. Bastian Mawatha handles long-distance services whereas Gunasinghapura and Central handle local services. Train transport in the city is limited since most trains are meant for transport to and from the city rather than within it and are often overcrowded. However,

7488-459: The harbour. The Port of Colombo handled 3.75 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2008, 10.6% up on 2007 (which itself was 9.7% up on 2006), bucking the global economic trend. Of those, 817,000 were local shipments with the rest transshipments. With a capacity of 5.7 million TEUs and a dredged depth of over 15 m (49 ft), the Colombo Harbour is one of the busiest ports in

7584-704: The influence of the British, who established Christian missionary schools. These include the Anglican , Bishop's College (1875); the Methodist , Wesley College Colombo (1874); the Buddhist , Ananda College (1886); the Muslim , Zahira College (1892); the St. Benedict's College, Colombo (1985), the Catholic , St. Joseph's College (1896). The religious alignments do not affect the curriculum of

7680-538: The island of Ceylon came under British rule . During the career of Christopher Reynolds as a Sinhalese lecturer at the School of African and Oriental Studies, University of London , he extensively researched the Sinhalese language and its pre-1815 literature. The Sri Lankan government awarded him the Sri Lanka Ranjana medal for his work. He wrote the 377-page An anthology of Sinhalese literature up to 1815 , selected by

7776-548: The island's richest cinnamon lands including Colombo which then served as the capital of the Dutch maritime provinces under the control of the Dutch East India Company until 1796. Although the British captured Colombo in 1796, it remained a British military outpost until the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to them in 1815 and they made Colombo the capital of their newly created crown colony of British Ceylon . Unlike

7872-717: The most recognised landmarks of the city. Before they were completed in 1997, the adjacent Bank of Ceylon tower was the tallest structure and the most prominent city landmark. Before the skyscrapers were built, the Old Parliament Building that stood in the Fort district with the Old Colombo Lighthouse close to it used to be the tallest building. Another important landmark is the Independence Hall at Independence Square in Cinnamon Gardens. Another landmark

7968-481: The nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte , Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The name 'Colombo', first introduced by the Portuguese explorers in 1505, is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhala name කොලොන් තොට , கொல்லம் துறைமுகம் Kolon thota , meaning "port on the river Kelani ". Another belief

8064-593: The national capital of the island was Colombo. During the 1980s plans were made to move the administrative capital to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte and thus move all governmental institutions out of Colombo to make way for commercial activities. As a primary step, the Parliament was moved to a new complex in Kotte, with several ministries and departments also relocated. However, the move was never completed. Today, many governmental institutions still remain in Colombo. These include

8160-534: The numbers are slowly growing. Genetic studies undertaken in the year 2021 by University of Colombo and Genetech Molecular Diagnostics led by Dr Gayani Galhena, made the following observation in paragraph 6, in the faculty of science web publication based on the latest X chromosome fingerprint analysis: "Sinhalese and Moors are genetically closer to each other compared to Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamils" Dr Sarabjit Mastanain found in 1996 based on genetic analysis of human blood group systems from 508 individuals that

8256-537: The other communities on the island, but share much in common with the Tamil Muslims of Tamil Nadu . This view is dominantly held by the Sinhalese-favouring section of the Moors, as well as the Sri Lankan government , which lists the Moors as a separate ethnic community. Although the caste system is not observed by the Moors as it is by the other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, their kudi system (matriclan system)

8352-469: The population of Colombo. However, the UNP nomination list for the 2006 Municipal elections was rejected, and an Independent Group supported by the UNP won the elections. Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas was subsequently appointed Mayor of Colombo. The city government provides sewer, road and waste management services to the residents. In the case of water, electricity and telephone utility services, the council liaises with

8448-501: The presidential palace and the majority of Colombo's five star hotels. The area immediately outside Fort is known as Pettah ( Sinhala : පිට කොටුව , Tamil : புறக் கோட்டை piṭa koṭuva , "outer fort") and is a commercial hub. In 1638 the Dutch signed a treaty with King Rajasinha II of Kandy which assured the king assistance in his war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the island's major trade goods. The Portuguese resisted

8544-482: The school except for the demographics of the student population. Colombo has many International Schools that have come up in recent years. Sinhala language Sinhala ( / ˈ s ɪ n h ə l ə , ˈ s ɪ ŋ ə l ə / SIN -hə-lə, SING -ə-lə ; Sinhala: සිංහල , siṁhala , [ˈsiŋɦələ] ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( / ˌ s ɪ n ( h ) ə ˈ l iː z , ˌ s ɪ ŋ ( ɡ ) ə ˈ l iː z / SIN -(h)ə- LEEZ , SING -(g)ə- LEEZ ),

8640-402: The source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo. Traveller Ibn Battuta who visited the island in the 14th century, referred to it as Kalanpu . Arabs, whose prime interests were trade, began to settle in Colombo around the eighth century AD mostly because the port helped their business by the way of controlling much of the trade between the Sinhalese kingdoms and the outside world. It

8736-435: The time, the population of the region was around 80,000. During the time they were in control of Colombo, the British were responsible for much of the planning of the present city. In some parts of the city, tram car tracks and granite flooring laid during the era are still visible today. This era of colonialism ended peacefully in 1948 when Ceylon gained independence from Britain. Due to the tremendous impact this caused on

8832-543: The use of several Persian-Arabic loan words in SLMT vocabulary. This distinctiveness between SLMT and other spoken varieties of SLT brings out the different religious and cultural identities of the Tamil speaking ethnic groups. As an example, the SLT term for the corpse is ‘caavu’ but the SLMT uses the Arabic term ‘mayyatu’. Another example is the verb ‘pray’ which is ‘vanaku’ in SLT and ‘tholu’ in SLMT. The kinship terms used by Muslims in

8928-637: The view that the Sri Lankan Moors in general are descended from the Marakkar, Mappilas , Memons , Lebbes , Rowthers and Pathans of South India . Sri Lankan Moor scholar Dr. Ameer Ali in his summary of the origin history of Sri Lankan Moors states the following: 'In actual fact, the Muslims of Sri Lanka are a mixture of Arab , Persian , Dravidian and Malay blood of which the Dravidian element, because of centuries of heavy Indian injection has remained

9024-533: The world and ranks among the top 25 ports (23rd). Sri Lanka's Port of Colombo is said to be the busiest, largest port in the Indian Ocean. Colombo is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the Upper Adriatic region with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe . Colombo has an extensive public transport system based on buses operated both by private operators and

9120-524: Was necessary for the protection of their coastal establishments in India, and they began to manipulate the rulers of the Kotte kingdom to gain control of the area. After skilfully exploiting rivalries within the royal family, they took control of a large area of the kingdom and the Sinhalese King Mayadunne established a new kingdom at Sitawaka, a domain in the Kotte kingdom. Before long he annexed much of

9216-477: Was popularly believed that their descendants comprised the local Sri Lankan Moor community, but their genetics are predominantly South Indian. Portuguese explorers led by Dom Lourenço de Almeida first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505. During their initial visit they made a treaty with the King of Kotte , Parakramabahu VIII (1484–1518), which enabled them to trade in the island's crop of cinnamon , which lay along with

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