143-584: Hiru Golden Film Awards (Sinhala: හිරු රන් සිනමා සම්මාන ) is an award bestowed to distinguished individuals involved with the Sri Lanka's silver screen, awarded by the Asia Broadcasting Corporation, Sri Lanka and organised by Hiru TV , in recognition of the contributions made by them to the Sri Lankan cinema industry. First commenced in 2014, is held every two years, Hiru Golden Film Awards ceremony
286-625: A British invasion in 1803 but successfully retaliated. The First Kandyan War ended in a stalemate. By then the entire coastal area was under the British East India Company as a result of the Treaty of Amiens . On 14 February 1815, Kandy was occupied by the British in the Second Kandyan War , ending Sri Lanka's independence. Sri Vikrama Rajasinha, the last native monarch of Sri Lanka,
429-535: A Pāḷi chronicle written in the 5th century CE, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are said to be the Yakshas and Nagas . Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BCE with the arrival of Prince Vijaya , a semi-legendary prince who sailed with 700 followers to Sri Lanka, after being expelled from Vanga kingdom (present-day Bengal ). He established the Kingdom of Tambapanni , near modern-day Mannar . Vijaya (Singha)
572-765: A bhikkhu and the son of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka arrived in Mihintale carrying the message of Buddhism. His mission won over the monarch, who embraced the faith and propagated it throughout the Sinhalese population . Succeeding kingdoms of Sri Lanka would maintain many Buddhist schools and monasteries and support the propagation of Buddhism into other countries in Southeast Asia. Sri Lankan Bhikkhus studied in India's famous ancient Buddhist University of Nalanda , which
715-430: A severe economic crisis occurred caused by rapidly increasing foreign debt, massive government budget deficits due to tax cuts, falling foreign remittances, a food crisis caused by mandatory organic farming along with a ban on chemical fertilizers, and a multitude of other factors. The Sri Lankan Government officially declared the ongoing crisis to be the worst economic crisis in the country in 73 years. In August 2021,
858-417: A 24,000 strong army. Unlike previous invaders, he looted , ransacked and destroyed everything in the ancient Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa Kingdoms beyond recovery. His priorities in ruling were to extract as much as possible from the land and overturn as many of the traditions of Rajarata as possible. His reign saw the massive migration of native Sinhalese people to the south and west of Sri Lanka, and into
1001-593: A colony at the Cape of Good Hope on the southern African coast, as a victualing station for its ships on the route between Europe and Asia. Dutch immigration in the Cape rapidly swelled as prospective colonists were offered generous grants of land and tax exempt status in exchange for producing the food needed to resupply passing ships. The Cape authorities also imported a number of Europeans of other nationalities, namely Germans and French Huguenots , as well as thousands of slaves from
1144-463: A fledgling Tamil militancy in the north during the 1970s. The policy of standardisation by the Sirimavo government to rectify disparities created in university enrolment, which was in essence an affirmative action to assist geographically disadvantaged students to obtain tertiary education, resulted in reducing the proportion of Tamil students at university level and acted as the immediate catalyst for
1287-400: A food emergency was declared. In June 2022, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared the collapse of the Sri Lankan economy in parliament. The crisis resulted in Sri Lanka defaulting on its $ 51 billion sovereign debt for the first time in its history, along with double-digit inflation, a crippling energy crisis that led to approximately 15 hour power cuts, severe fuel shortages leading to
1430-526: A massive human cost, with an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 victims, of which 350,000 to 400,000 were civilians killed by disease and what would later be considered war crimes. The war was largely fought on the European continent, but war was also conducted against Phillip II's overseas territories, including Spanish colonies and the Portuguese metropoles, colonies, trading posts and forts belonging at that time to
1573-515: A number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The era spans the Palaeolithic , Mesolithic , and early Iron Ages . Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (37,000 BP), named after
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#17329174657511716-426: A result of the depression of 1847 stalled economic development and prompted the governor to introduce a series of taxes on firearms, dogs, shops, boats, etc., and to reintroduce a form of rajakariya , requiring six days free labour on roads or payment of a cash equivalent. These harsh measures antagonised the locals, and another rebellion broke out in 1848. A devastating leaf disease, Hemileia vastatrix , struck
1859-571: A series of successful expeditions, he gradually extended the Dutch possessions from Sergipe on the south to Maranhão in the north. The WIC also succeeded in conquering Gorée , Elmina Castle , Saint Thomas, and Luanda on the west coast of Africa. Both regions were also used as bases for Dutch privateers plundering Portuguese and Spanish trade routes. The dissolution of the Iberian Union in 1640 and Maurits's recall in 1643 led to increased resistance from
2002-563: A series of three wars which took place between the English and the Dutch from 1652 to 1674. The causes included political disputes and increasing competition from merchant shipping. The English in the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652–54) had the naval advantage with larger numbers of more powerful " ships of the line " which were well suited to the naval tactics of the era. The English also captured numerous Dutch merchant ships. Holmes's Bonfire
2145-654: A settlement in the ruins of the Spanish settlement of Valdivia , in southern Chile . The purpose of the expedition was to gain a foothold on the west coast of the Americas, an area that was almost entirely under the control of Spain (the Pacific Ocean , at least most of it to the east of the Philippines, being at the time almost a "Spanish lake"), and to extract gold from nearby mines. Uncooperative indigenous peoples, who had forced
2288-453: A year before it was recaptured by a joint Spanish-Portuguese expedition., In 1630, the Dutch occupied the Portuguese sugar-settlement of Pernambuco and over the next few years pushed inland, annexing the sugar plantations that surrounded it. In order to supply the plantations with the manpower they required, a successful expedition was launched from Brazil to capture the Portuguese slaving post of Elmina in 1637, and successfully captured
2431-557: Is Pidurutalagala , reaching 2,524 metres (8,281 ft) above sea level. Sri Lanka has 103 rivers. The longest of these is the Mahaweli River , extending 335 kilometres (208 mi). These waterways give rise to 51 natural waterfalls of 10 metres (33 ft) or more. The highest is Bambarakanda Falls , with a height of 263 metres (863 ft). Sri Lanka's coastline is 1,585 km (985 mi) long. Sri Lanka claims an exclusive economic zone extending 200 nautical miles , which
2574-438: Is approximately 6.7 times Sri Lanka's land area. The coastline and adjacent waters support highly productive marine ecosystems such as fringing coral reefs and shallow beds of coastal and estuarine seagrasses . Sri Lanka has 45 estuaries and 40 lagoons . Sri Lanka's mangrove ecosystem spans over 7,000 hectares and played a vital role in buffering the force of the waves in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami . The island
2717-433: Is considered the oldest human-planted tree (with a continuous historical record) in the world. ( Bodhivaṃsa ) Sri Lanka experienced the first of many foreign invasions during the reign of Suratissa , who was defeated by two horse traders named Sena and Guttika from South India. The next invasion came immediately in 205 BCE by a Chola named Elara , who overthrew Asela and ruled the country for 44 years. Dutugamunu ,
2860-543: Is memorable for two major campaigns – in the south of India as part of a Pandyan war of succession, and a punitive strike against the kings of Ramanna ( Burma ) for various perceived insults to Sri Lanka. After his demise, Sri Lanka gradually decayed in power. In 1215, Kalinga Magha , an invader with uncertain origins, identified as the founder of the Jaffna kingdom, invaded and captured the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa . He sailed from Kalinga 690 nautical miles on 100 large ships with
3003-501: Is now known in Sinhala as Śrī Laṅkā ( Sinhala : ශ්රී ලංකා ) and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai ( Tamil : இலங்கை , IPA: [iˈlaŋɡaɪ] ). In 1972, its formal name was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". Later, on 7 September 1978, it was changed to the "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". As the name Ceylon still appears in the names of
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#17329174657513146-410: Is one of the most popular cinematic program events in Sri Lanka. The ceremony was held thrice with the participation of popular Bollywood film stars along with Sri Lanka's finest stars together. 32 awards were given. The ceremony witnessed the participation of Bollywood stars - Vivek Oberoi , Alka Yagnik , Anil Kapoor , Suniel Shetty and Bipasha Basu . 42 awards were given. The ceremony witnessed
3289-457: Is rich in minerals such as ilmenite , feldspar , graphite , silica , kaolin , mica and thorium . Existence of petroleum and gas in the Gulf of Mannar has also been confirmed, and the extraction of recoverable quantities is underway. Dutch colonial empire 18th century 19th century 20th century The Dutch colonial empire ( Dutch : Nederlandse koloniale rijk ) comprised
3432-689: Is the first of the approximately 189 monarchs of Sri Lanka described in chronicles such as the Dīpavaṃsa , Mahāvaṃsa , Cūḷavaṃsa , and Rājāvaliya . Once Prakrit speakers had attained dominance on the island, the Mahāvaṃsa further recounts the later migration of royal brides and service castes from the Tamil Pandya kingdom to the Anuradhapura kingdom in the early historic period. The Anuradhapura period (377 BCE – 1017 CE) began with
3575-533: The Compagnie van Verre ("Company of Far Lands") was founded in Amsterdam, with the aim of sending two fleets to the spice islands of Maluku . The first fleet sailed in 1596 and returned in 1597 with a cargo of pepper, which more than covered the costs of the voyage. The second voyage (1598–1599), returned its investors a 400% profit. The success of these voyages led to the founding of a number of companies competing for
3718-848: The American Revolutionary War , Britain declared war on the Netherlands, the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War , in which Britain seized the Dutch colony of Ceylon. Under the Peace of Paris (1783), Ceylon was returned to the Netherlands and Negapatnam ceded to Britain. In 1795, the French Revolutionary Army invaded the Dutch Republic and turned the nation into a satellite of France, named the Batavian Republic . Britain, which
3861-705: The Ceylon Civil Service and the legal, educational, engineering, and medical professions with natives. New leaders represented the various ethnic groups of the population in the Ceylon Legislative Council on a communal basis. Buddhist and Hindu revivalism reacted against Christian missionary activities. The first two decades in the 20th century are noted by the unique harmony among Sinhalese and Tamil political leadership, which has since been lost. The 1906 malaria outbreak in Ceylon actually started in
4004-482: The Chinese traveller monk Faxian ; Batadombalena (28,500 BP); and Belilena (12,000 BP) are the most important. In these caves, archaeologists have found the remains of anatomically modern humans which they have named Balangoda Man , and other evidence suggesting that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game. The earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of
4147-900: The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia . It lies in the Indian Ocean , southwest of the Bay of Bengal , separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait . It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest. Sri Lanka has a population of approximately 22 million and is home to several cultures, languages and ethnicities. The Sinhalese people form
4290-529: The Dutch East Indies . Anglo-Dutch rivalry in Southeast Asia continued to fester over the port of Singapore , which had been ceded to the British East India Company in 1819 by the sultan of Johore. The Dutch claimed that a treaty signed with the sultan's predecessor the year earlier had granted them control of the region. However, the impossibility of removing the British from Singapore, which
4433-535: The Dutch Gold Coast of Africa, towards the Indian Ocean, and the source of the lucrative spice trade . This brought the Dutch into direct competition with Portugal , which had dominated these trade routes for several decades, and had established colonial outposts on the coasts of Brazil, Africa and the Indian Ocean to facilitate them. The rivalry with Portugal, however, was not entirely economic: from 1580, after
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4576-583: The Dutch Republic . The Second Anglo-Dutch War was precipitated in 1664, when English forces moved to capture New Netherland . Under the Treaty of Breda (1667), New Netherland was ceded to England in exchange for the English settlements in Suriname, which had been conquered by Dutch forces earlier that year. Though the Dutch would again take New Netherland in 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, it
4719-541: The Indian Plate , a major tectonic plate that was formerly part of the Indo-Australian Plate . It is in the Indian Ocean southwest of the Bay of Bengal , between latitudes 5° and 10° N , and longitudes 79° and 82° E . Sri Lanka is separated from the mainland portion of the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Strait . According to Hindu mythology , a land bridge existed between
4862-611: The Pali Canon , date to the fourth Buddhist council , which took place in 29 BCE. Also called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean , or the Granary of the East , Sri Lanka's geographic location and deep harbours have made it of great strategic importance, from the earliest days of the ancient Silk Road trade route to today's so-called maritime Silk Road . Because its location made it a major trading hub, it
5005-659: The Portuguese , the independent existence of the Jaffna kingdom came to an end. During the reign of the Rajasinha II , Dutch explorers arrived on the island. In 1638, the king signed a treaty with the Dutch East India Company to get rid of the Portuguese who ruled most of the coastal areas. The following Dutch–Portuguese War resulted in a Dutch victory, with Colombo falling into Dutch hands by 1656. The Dutch remained in
5148-672: The SAARC , the G77 and the Non-Aligned Movement , as well as a member of the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations . In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names. According to the Mahāvaṃsa , the legendary Prince Vijaya named the island Tambapaṇṇĩ (" copper-red hands" or "copper-red earth"), because his followers' hands were reddened by the red soil of
5291-573: The Sinhalese —to Kandy and built the Temple of the Tooth . In spite of on-going intermittent warfare with Europeans, the kingdom survived. Later, a crisis of succession emerged in Kandy upon king Vira Narendra Sinha 's death in 1739. He was married to a Telugu -speaking Nayakkar princess from South India ( Madurai ) and was childless by her. Eventually, with the support of bhikkhu Weliwita Sarankara and ignoring
5434-645: The Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam . Sri Lanka is a developing country , ranking 78th on the Human Development Index . It is the highest-ranked South Asian nation in terms of development and has the second-highest per capita income in South Asia. The country has had a long history of engagement with modern international groups; it is a founding member of
5577-453: The Vedda people , an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. During the protohistoric period (1000–500 BCE) Sri Lanka was culturally united with southern India, and shared the same megalithic burials, pottery , iron technology, farming techniques and megalithic graffiti . This cultural complex spread from southern India along with Dravidian clans such as
5720-551: The Velir , prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers. One of the first written references to the island is found in the Indian epic Ramayana , which provides details of a kingdom named Lanka that was created by the divine sculptor Vishvakarma for Kubera , the God of Wealth. It is said that Kubera was overthrown by his rakshasa stepbrother, Ravana . According to the Mahāvaṃsa ,
5863-529: The loss of Ormuz to England in 1622, but the Dutch Empire was the main beneficiary. The VOC began immediately to prise away the string of coastal fortresses that, at the time, comprised the Portuguese Empire. The settlements were isolated, difficult to reinforce if attacked, and prone to being picked off one by one, but nevertheless, the Dutch only enjoyed mixed success in its attempts to do so. Amboina
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6006-706: The 1560s, the Eighty Years' War broke out in the Habsburg Netherlands . A coalition of rebel provinces united in the Union of Utrecht declared independence from the Spanish Empire with the 1581 Act of Abjuration , in 1588 establishing the de facto independent northern Dutch Republic (alias the United Provinces), whose sovereignty was recognised by the Treaty of Antwerp (1609) . The eight decades of war came at
6149-656: The 1580s, the Eighty Years' War led many financiers and traders to emigrate from Antwerp , a major city in Brabant and then one of Europe's most important commercial centres, to Dutch cities, particularly Amsterdam , Efficient access to capital enabled the Dutch in the 1580s to extend their trade routes beyond northern Europe to new markets in the Mediterranean and the Levant . In the 1590s, Dutch ships began to trade with Brazil and
6292-496: The 17th century, known as the Dutch Golden Age . In their search for new trade passages between Asia and Europe , Dutch navigators explored and charted distant regions such as Australia , New Zealand , Tasmania , and parts of the eastern coast of North America . During the period of proto-industrialization , the empire received 50% of textiles and 80% of silks import from the India's Mughal Empire , chiefly from its most developed region known as Bengal Subah . In
6435-432: The 18th century, the Dutch colonial empire began to decline as a result of being overwhelmed from the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War of 1780–1784, in which the Dutch Republic lost a number of its colonial possessions and trade monopolies to the British Empire and French colonial empire , along with the conquest of the Mughal Bengal at the Battle of Plassey by the British East India Company . Nevertheless, major portions of
6578-399: The Banda Islands was a process of military conquest from 1609 to 1621 by the Dutch East India Company of the Banda Islands . The Dutch, having enforced a monopoly on the highly lucrative nutmeg production from the islands, were impatient with Bandanese resistance to Dutch demands that the Bandanese sell only to them. Negotiations collapsed after Bandanese village elders deceived and murdered
6721-438: The British retook the Cape Colony and the Dutch West Indies. The British also invaded and captured the island of Java in 1811 . In 1806, Napoleon dissolved the Batavian Republic and established a monarchy with his brother, Louis Bonaparte , on the throne as King of the Netherlands. Louis was removed from power by Napoleon in 1810, and the country was ruled directly from France until its liberation in 1813. The following year,
6864-543: The Caribbean , South America ( Suriname and Brazil ), Africa (on the Gold Coast and at the Cape ), mainland India , Sri Lanka , Indonesia and Taiwan . It also chartered new lands of Australia and New Zealand . It was initially a trade-based system which derived most of its influence from merchant enterprise and from Dutch control of international maritime shipping routes through strategically placed outposts, rather than from expansive territorial ventures. Because small European trading-companies often lacked
7007-403: The Congress lost momentum towards the mid-1920s. The Donoughmore reforms of 1931 repudiated the communal representation and introduced universal adult franchise (the franchise stood at 4% before the reforms). This step was strongly criticised by the Tamil political leadership, who realised that they would be reduced to a minority in the newly created State Council of Ceylon , which succeeded
7150-412: The Dutch Republic about the legality, utility, and moral permissibility of this act. As a result, in September 1604 jurist Hugo Grotius wrote a treatise titled De Jure Praedae Commentarius ("Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty"), later published in 1609 as Mare Liberum, sive de jure quod Batavis competit ad Indicana commercia dissertatio ("The Freedom of the Seas, Or, The Right Which Belongs to
7293-479: The Dutch Second Fleet sent to the Spice Islands were blown off course in a storm and landed there in 1598. They named it in honour of Prince Maurice of Nassau , the Stadtholder of the Netherlands. The Dutch found the climate hostile and abandoned the island after several further decades. The Dutch established a colony at Tayouan (present-day Anping ), in the south of Taiwan , an island then largely dominated by Portuguese traders and known as Formosa ; and, in 1642
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#17329174657517436-461: The Dutch by 1648. On the north-east coast of North America, the West India Company took over a settlement that had been established by the Company of New Netherland (1614–1618) at Fort Orange at Albany on the Hudson River , relocated from Fort Nassau which had been founded in 1614. The Dutch had been sending ships annually to the Hudson River to trade fur since Henry Hudson 's voyage of 1609. To protect its precarious position at Albany from
7579-430: The Dutch proved unable to control their own settlers, who disregarded the agreement and crossed into Xhosa territory, sparking one of Southern Africa's longest colonial conflicts: the Xhosa Wars . In 1651, the English parliament passed the first of the Navigation Acts which excluded Dutch shipping from the lucrative trade between England and its Caribbean colonies, and led directly to the outbreak of hostilities between
7722-454: The Dutch representative Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff . Under the command of Jan Pieterszoon Coen the Dutch resorted to a forcible conquest of the islands, which became severely depopulated as a result of Coen’s massacres, forced deportations, and the resulting starvation and disease. The Dutch East India Company, which was founded in 1602 as an amalgamation of 12 voorcompagnies , had extensive financial interests in maritime Southeast Asia ,
7865-414: The Dutch to Take Part in the East Indian Trade"), in which the act of aggression was justified. In the meantime, the States-General had already passed a resolution on 1 November 1603, authorising VOC ships "to damage the enemies and inflict harm on their persons, ships and goods by all means possible, so that they may with reputation not only continue their trade, but also expand it and make it grow". This
8008-429: The Dutch took northern Formosa from the Spanish by force. The Dutch colonisation of the Americas started with many mixed results. In the Atlantic, the West India Company concentrated on wresting from Portugal its grip on the sugar and slave trade, and on opportunistic attacks on the Spanish treasure fleets on their homeward bound voyage. Bahia on the north east coast of Brazil was captured in 1624 but only held for
8151-410: The Dutch were disrupting the Spanish-Portuguese trade, and they eventually ranged as far afield as the Philippines. The Dutch sought to dominate the commercial sea trade in Southeast Asia, going so far in pursuit of this goal as to engage in what other nations and powers considered to be little more than piratical activities. During the negotiations for and implementation of the Twelve Years' Truce in
8294-418: The Dutch were reunited with the Southern Netherlands in a constitutional monarchy, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands . The union lasted just 15 years. In 1830, a revolution in the southern half of the country led to the de facto independence of the new state of Belgium . The bankrupt Dutch East India Company was liquidated on 1 January 1800, and its territorial possessions were nationalized as
8437-456: The Dutch were unable in four attempts to capture Macau , from where Portugal monopolized the lucrative China-Japan trade , the Tokugawa shogunate 's increasing suspicion of the intentions of the Catholic Portuguese led to their expulsion in 1639. Under the subsequent sakoku policy , from 1639 till 1854 (215 years), the Dutch were the only European power allowed to operate in Japan, confined in 1639 to Hirado and then from 1641 at Dejima . In
8580-417: The East Indies, to bolster the local Dutch workforce. Nevertheless, there was a degree of cultural assimilation between the various ethnic groups due to intermarriage and the universal adoption of the Dutch language, and cleavages were likelier to occur along social and racial lines. The Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope expanded beyond the initial settlement and its borders were formally consolidated as
8723-439: The IPKF in 1990. In October 1990, the LTTE expelled Sri Lankan Moors (Muslims by religion) from northern Sri Lanka. In 2002, the Sri Lankan government and LTTE signed a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire agreement. The 2004 Asian tsunami killed over 30,000 and displaced over 500,000 people in Sri Lanka. From 1985 to 2006, the Sri Lankan government and Tamil insurgents held four rounds of peace talks without success. Both LTTE and
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#17329174657518866-427: The Indian mainland and Sri Lanka. It now amounts to only a chain of limestone shoals remaining above sea level . Legends claim that it was passable on foot up to 1480 CE, until cyclones deepened the channel. Portions are still as shallow as 1 metre (3 ft), hindering navigation. The island consists mostly of flat to rolling coastal plains, with mountains rising only in the south-central part. The highest point
9009-429: The King of Spain and Portugal. The port of Lisbon in Portugal had since 1517 been the main European market for products from India, drawing merchants from across Europe to purchase exotic commodities. But as a result of Portugal's incorporation in the Iberian Union with Spain by Philip II in 1580, all Portuguese territories were thereafter Spanish Habsburg branch territory, and thus all Portuguese markets were closed to
9152-467: The Netherlands might deliver Sri Lanka to the French, the British Empire occupied the coastal areas of the island (which they called the colony of British Ceylon ) with little difficulty in 1796. Two years later, in 1798, Sri Rajadhi Rajasinha , third of the four Nayakkar kings of Sri Lanka, died of a fever. Following his death, a nephew of Rajadhi Rajasinha, eighteen-year-old Kannasamy, was crowned. The young king, now named Sri Vikrama Rajasinha , faced
9295-412: The Portuguese colonists who still made up a majority of the Brazilian settlers. The Dutch were finally overcome during the 1650s but managed to receive 4 million reis (63 metric tons of gold) in exchange for extinguishing their claims over Brazil in the 1661 Treaty of the Hague . The war between Phillip II's possessions and other countries led to a deterioration of the Portuguese Empire, as with
9438-406: The Portuguese had never been able to capture the entire island of Ceylon, they had been able to keep the coastal regions under their control for a considerable time before the coming of the Dutch in war. Portugal's South American colony, Brazil , was partially conquered by the United Provinces. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company (WIC) was set up and given a 25-year monopoly to those parts of
9581-453: The Portuguese in Brazil and Africa were short-lived. Years of settlement had left large Portuguese communities under the rule of the Dutch, who were by nature traders rather than colonisers. In 1645, the Portuguese community at Pernambuco rebelled against their Dutch masters, and by 1654, the Dutch had been ousted from Brazil. In the intervening years, a Portuguese expedition had been sent from Brazil to recapture Luanda in Angola, expelling
9724-406: The Portuguese settlements in Angola in 1641. In 1642, the Dutch captured the Portuguese possession of Axim in Africa. By 1650, the West India Company was firmly in control of both the sugar and slave trades, and had occupied the Caribbean islands of Sint Maarten , Curaçao , Aruba , and Bonaire in order to guarantee access to the islands' salt-pans . Unlike in Asia, Dutch successes against
9867-423: The Spanish to leave Valdivia in 1604 contributed to get the expedition to leave after some months of occupation. This occupation triggered the return of the Spanish to Valdivia and the building of one of the largest defensive complexes of colonial America. By the middle of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company had overtaken Portugal as the dominant player in the spice and silk trade, and in 1652 founded
10010-422: The Straits of Singapore". Thus the archipelago was divided into two spheres of influence: a British one, on the Malay Peninsula , and a Dutch one in the East Indies. For most of the Dutch East Indies history, and that of the VOC before it, Dutch control over their territories was often tenuous, but was expanded over the course of the 19th century. Only in the early 20th century did Dutch dominance extend to what
10153-402: The United Provinces. Thus, in 1595, the Dutch decided to set sail on their own to acquire products for themselves, making use of the "secret" knowledge of the Portuguese trade routes, which Cornelis de Houtman had managed to acquire in Lisbon. The coastal provinces of Holland and Zeeland had been important hubs of the European maritime trade network for centuries prior to Spanish rule. By
10296-561: The VOC was founded, the problem of justifying attacks on Spanish and Portuguese ships became more acute when in February 1603, the Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina was captured off the coast of Singapore by three VOC ships under the command of Jacob van Heemskerck . When Heemskerck returned to Amsterdam in 1604 with the enormous booty from the Santa Catarina , this caused a major controversy in
10439-563: The area where he landed. In Hindu mythology , the term Lankā ("Island") appears but it is unknown whether it refers to the modern-day state. The Tamil term Eelam ( Tamil : ஈழம் , romanized: īḻam ) was used to designate the whole island in Sangam literature . The island was known under Chola rule as Mummudi Cholamandalam ("realm of the three crowned Cholas"). Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā ( Ancient Greek : Ταπροβανᾶ ) or Taprobanē ( Ταπροβανῆ ) from
10582-420: The areas they had captured, thereby violating the treaty they had signed in 1638. The Burgher people , a distinct ethnic group, emerged as a result of intermingling between the Dutch and native Sri Lankans in this period. The Kingdom of Kandy was the last independent monarchy of Sri Lanka. In 1595, Vimaladharmasurya brought the sacred Tooth Relic —the traditional symbol of royal and religious authority amongst
10725-464: The arrival of Portuguese soldier and explorer Lourenço de Almeida , the son of Francisco de Almeida , in 1505. In 1517, the Portuguese built a fort at the port city of Colombo and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592, after decades of intermittent warfare with the Portuguese, Vimaladharmasuriya I moved his kingdom to the inland city of Kandy , a location he thought more secure from attack. In 1619, succumbing to attacks by
10868-478: The bill posed a grave concern for the Tamil community, which perceived in it a threat to their language and culture. The Federal Party (FP) launched a movement of non-violent resistance ( satyagraha ) against the bill, which prompted Bandaranaike to reach an agreement ( Bandaranaike–Chelvanayakam Pact ) with S. J. V. Chelvanayakam , leader of the FP, to resolve the looming ethnic conflict. The pact proved ineffective in
11011-475: The capital of the Dutch East Indies . Meanwhile, the Dutch continued to drive out the Portuguese from their bases in Asia. Malacca finally succumbed in 1641 (after a second attempt to capture it), Colombo in 1656, Ceylon in 1658, Nagapattinam in 1662, and Cranganore and Cochin in 1662. Goa , the capital of the Portuguese Empire in the East, was unsuccessfully attacked by the Dutch in 1603 and 1610. Whilst
11154-605: The capital or the manpower for large-scale operations, the States General chartered larger organisations—the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company—in the early seventeenth century, based on England's model that was slowly developed a century before. The companies' domination of global commerce contributed greatly to a commercial revolution and a cultural flowering in the Netherlands of
11297-443: The coffee plantations in 1869, destroying the entire industry within fifteen years. The British quickly found a replacement: abandoning coffee, they began cultivating tea instead. Tea production in Sri Lanka thrived in the following decades. Large-scale rubber plantations began in the early 20th century. By the end of the 19th century, a new educated social class transcending race and caste arose through British attempts to staff
11440-456: The colony proved to be unprofitable. It was recaptured by the Dutch in 1676, but was returned again a year later, this time permanently. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 saw the Dutch William of Orange ascend to the throne, and win the English, Scottish, and Irish crowns, ending eighty years of rivalry between the Netherlands and England, while the rivalry with France remained strong. During
11583-541: The company, the " Heeren XVII ", were given the legal authority to establish "fortresses and strongholds", to sign treaties, to enlist both an army and a navy, and to wage defensive war. The company itself was founded as a joint stock company , similarly to its English rival that had been founded two years earlier, the English East India Company . Dutch enterprise, companies and government institutions were inspired by their English counterparts. Shortly after
11726-620: The composite Dutch Cape Colony in 1778. At the time, the Dutch had subdued the indigenous Khoisan and San peoples in the Cape and seized their traditional territories. Dutch military expeditions further east were halted when they encountered the westward expansion of the Xhosa people . Hoping to avoid being drawn into a protracted dispute, the Dutch government and the Xhosa chieftains agreed to formally demarcate their respective areas of control and refrain from trespassing on each other's borders. However,
11869-510: The conquest led by king Parâkramabâhu VI 's adopted son, Prince Sapumal . He ruled the North from 1450 to 1467 CE. The next three centuries starting from 1215 were marked by kaleidoscopically shifting collections of capitals in south and central Sri Lanka, including Dambadeniya, Yapahuwa , Gampola , Raigama , Kotte , Sitawaka , and finally, Kandy . In 1247, the Malay kingdom of Tambralinga which
12012-472: The country based on the rule of law and amalgamated the Kandyan and maritime provinces as a single unit of government. An executive council and a legislative council were established, later becoming the foundation of a representative legislature. By this time, experiments with coffee plantations were largely successful. Soon, coffee became the primary commodity export of Sri Lanka. Falling coffee prices as
12155-447: The country for the first time in over a century. Upon his request, ordained monks were sent from Burma to Sri Lanka to re-establish Buddhism, which had almost disappeared from the country during the Chola reign. During the medieval period, Sri Lanka was divided into three sub-territories, namely, Ruhunu , Pihiti and Maya . Sri Lanka's irrigation system was extensively expanded during
12298-607: The course of the 26 year long conflict. 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings carried out by the terrorist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath on 21 April 2019 resulted in the brutal death of 261 innocent people. On 26 April 2019 an anti terrorist operation was carried out against the National Thowheeth Jama'ath by the Sri Lanka Army with the operation being successful and National Thowheeth Jama'ath's insurgency ending. Economic troubles in Sri Lanka began in 2019, when
12441-591: The danger of not writing it down so that even if some of the monks whose duty it was to study and remember parts of the Canon for later generations died, the teachings would not be lost. After the council, palm-leaf manuscripts containing the completed Canon were taken to other countries such as Burma , Thailand , Cambodia and Laos . Sri Lanka was the first Asian country known to have a female ruler: Anula of Anuradhapura (r. 47–42 BCE). Sri Lankan monarchs undertook some remarkable construction projects such as Sigiriya ,
12584-527: The death of the King of Portugal, Sebastian I , and much of the Portuguese nobility in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir , the Portuguese crown had been joined to that of Spain in an " Iberian Union " under the heir of Emperor Charles V, Philip II of Spain . By attacking Portuguese overseas possessions, the Dutch forced Spain to divert financial and military resources away from its attempt to quell Dutch independence. Thus began
12727-520: The early 1900s, but the first case was documented in 1906. In 1919, major Sinhalese and Tamil political organisations united to form the Ceylon National Congress, under the leadership of Ponnambalam Arunachalam , pressing colonial masters for more constitutional reforms. But without massive popular support, and with the governor's encouragement for "communal representation" by creating a "Colombo seat" that dangled between Sinhalese and Tamils,
12870-602: The eldest son of the southern regional sub-king, Kavan Tissa , defeated Elara in the Battle of Vijithapura . During its two and a half millennia of existence, the Sinhala kingdom was invaded at least eight times by neighbouring South Indian dynasties such as the Chola , Pandya , and Pallava . There also were incursions by the kingdoms of Kalinga (modern Odisha ) and from the Malay Peninsula as well. The Fourth Theravāda Council
13013-719: The empire survived until the advent of global decolonisation following World War II , namely the East Indies and Dutch Guiana . Three former colonial territories in the West Indies islands around the Caribbean Sea — Aruba , Curaçao , and Sint Maarten —remain as constituent countries represented within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This list does not include several former trading posts stationed by Dutch , such as Dejima in Japan. In
13156-539: The enemies and inflict harm on their persons, ships and goods by all means possible, so that they may with reputation not only continue their trade, but also expand it and make it grow, otherwise by neglecting this they will certainly lose it. For this was the principal reason why the Gentlemen States General have undertaken the union of the Companies and awarded them a charter and authorisation to inflict damage on
13299-527: The enemies." As a result of the problems caused by inter-company rivalry, the Dutch East India Company ( Dutch : Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie , VOC) was founded in 1602. The charter awarded to the company by the States-General granted it sole rights, for an initial period of 21 years, to Dutch trade and navigation east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan . The directors of
13442-445: The establishment of the Anuradhapura kingdom in 380 BCE during the reign of Pandukabhaya . Thereafter, Anuradhapura served as the capital city of the country for nearly 1,400 years. Ancient Sri Lankans excelled at building certain types of structures such as tanks , dagobas and palaces. Society underwent a major transformation during the reign of Devanampiya Tissa , with the arrival of Buddhism from India. In 250 BCE, Mahinda ,
13585-537: The face of ongoing protests by opposition and the Buddhist clergy. The bill, together with various government colonisation schemes , contributed much towards the political rancour between Sinhalese and Tamil political leaders. Bandaranaike was assassinated by an extremist Buddhist monk in 1959. Sirimavo Bandaranaike , the widow of Bandaranaike, took office as prime minister in 1960, and withstood an attempted coup d'état in 1962. During her second term as prime minister,
13728-462: The first South Asian country to liberalise its economy. Beginning in 1983 , ethnic tensions were manifested in an on-and-off insurgency against the government by the LTTE. An LTTE attack on 13 soldiers resulted in the start of a civil war, and in response anti-Tamil race riots took place, allegedly backed by Sinhalese hard-line ministers, which resulted in more than 150,000 Tamil civilians fleeing
13871-595: The first Sri Lankan president to resign in the middle of his term. On the same day the President's House was stormed, protesters besieged and stormed the private residence of the prime minister and burnt it down. After winning the 2022 Sri Lankan presidential election , on 21 July 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe took oath as the ninth President of Sri Lanka. He implemented various economic reforms in efforts to stabilize Sri Lanka's economy, which has shown slight improvement since. On 23 September 2024, Anura Kumara Dissanayake
14014-522: The government instituted socialist economic policies, strengthening ties with the Soviet Union and China, while promoting a policy of non-alignment. In 1971, Ceylon experienced a Marxist insurrection , which was quickly suppressed. In 1972, the country became a republic named Sri Lanka, repudiating its dominion status. Prolonged minority grievances and the use of communal emotionalism as an election campaign weapon by both Sinhalese and Tamil leaders abetted
14157-536: The government resumed fighting in 2006, and the government officially backed out of the ceasefire in 2008. In 2009, under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa , the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the LTTE, bringing an end to the 26 year long civil war on 19 May 2009, and re-established control of the entire country by the Sri Lankan Government. Overall, between 60,000 and 100,000 people were killed during
14300-585: The independent Netherlands signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 with Britain. All the colonies Britain had seized were returned to the Netherlands, with the exception of the Dutch Cape Colony , Dutch Ceylon , and part of Dutch Guyana . After Napoleon's defeat in 1815, Europe's borders were redrawn at the Congress of Vienna . For the first time since the declaration of independence from Spain in 1581,
14443-731: The island, seeking asylum in other countries. Lapses in foreign policy resulted in India strengthening the Tigers by providing arms and training. In 1987, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed and the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was deployed in northern Sri Lanka to stabilise the region by neutralising the LTTE. The same year, the JVP launched its second insurrection in Southern Sri Lanka, necessitating redeployment of
14586-624: The islands to the United States or Latin America, leaving behind small populations with little income and which required subsidies from the Dutch government. The Antilles were combined under one administration with Suriname from 1828 to 1845. Slavery was not abolished in the Dutch Caribbean colonies until 1863, long after those of Britain and France, though by this time only 6,500 slaves remained. In Suriname, slave holders demanded compensation from
14729-810: The legislative council. In 1937, Tamil leader G. G. Ponnambalam demanded a 50–50 representation (50% for the Sinhalese and 50% for other ethnic groups) in the State Council. However, this demand was not met by the Soulbury reforms of 1944–45. The Soulbury constitution ushered in dominion status , with independence proclaimed on 4 February 1948. D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister of Ceylon . Prominent Tamil leaders including Ponnambalam and Arunachalam Mahadeva joined his cabinet. The British Royal Navy remained stationed at Trincomalee until 1956. A countrywide popular demonstration against withdrawal of
14872-586: The local king Vira Alakesvara of Gampola . Zheng He captured King Vira Alakesvara and later released him. Zheng He erected the Galle Trilingual Inscription , a stone tablet at Galle written in three languages ( Chinese , Tamil , and Persian ), to commemorate his visit. The stele was discovered by S. H. Thomlin at Galle in 1911 and is now preserved in the Colombo National Museum . The early modern period of Sri Lanka begins with
15015-643: The majority of the population, followed by the Sri Lankan Tamils , who are the largest minority group and are concentrated in northern Sri Lanka; both groups have played an influential role in the island's history. Other long-established groups include the Moors , Indian Tamils , Burghers , Malays , Chinese , and Vedda . Sri Lanka's documented history goes back 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlements dating back 125,000 years. The earliest known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka , known collectively as
15158-585: The mid-17th century, the Dutch also explored the western Australian coasts, naming many places . The Dutch tried to use military force to make Ming China open up to Dutch trade but the Chinese defeated the Dutch in a war over the Penghu islands from 1623 to 1624, forcing the VOC to abandon Penghu for Taiwan. Then Chinese defeated the Dutch again at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay in 1633. The Dutch colonised Mauritius in 1638, several decades after three ships out of
15301-414: The mountainous interior, in a bid to escape his power. Sri Lanka never really recovered from the effects of Kalinga Magha's invasion. King Vijayabâhu III, who led the resistance, brought the kingdom to Dambadeniya . The north, in the meanwhile, eventually evolved into the Jaffna kingdom . The Jaffna kingdom never came under the rule of any kingdom of the south except on one occasion; in 1450, following
15444-498: The nearby English and French, the Company founded the fortified town of New Amsterdam in 1625, at the mouth of the Hudson, encouraging settlement of the surrounding areas of Long Island and New Jersey . The fur trade ultimately proved impossible for the company to monopolize due to the massive illegal private trade in furs, and the settlement of New Netherland was unprofitable. In 1655,
15587-597: The nearby colony of New Sweden on the Delaware River was forcibly absorbed into New Netherland after ships and soldiers were sent to capture it by the Dutch governor, Pieter Stuyvesant . Since its inception, the Dutch East India Company had been in competition with its counterpart, the English East India Company , founded two years earlier, for the same goods and markets in the East. In 1619,
15730-478: The overseas territories and trading posts controlled and administered by Dutch chartered companies —mainly the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company —and subsequently by the Dutch Republic (1581–1795), and by the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands after 1815. By Jan van Riebeeck 's landing at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, it had colonial provinces in eastern North America ,
15873-666: The participation of six Bollywood stars - Sridevi , Madhuri Dixit , Jackie Shroff , Suniel Shetty , Karisma Kapoor and Neil Nitin Mukesh . The third Hiru Golden award Ceremony was held on 27 October 2018 at the Sugathadasa Indoor stadium. 40 awards were given in the ceremony. The ceremony witnessed the participation of seven Bollywood stars - Govinda , Shilpa Shetty , Sonakshi Sinha , Saif Ali Khan , Juhi Chawla , Sidharth Malhotra and Zareen Khan . Sri Lanka Sri Lanka , historically known as Ceylon , and officially
16016-546: The reign of Parākramabāhu the Great (1153–1186). This period is considered as a time when Sri Lanka was at the height of its power. He built 1,470 reservoirs – the highest number by any ruler in Sri Lanka's history – repaired 165 dams, 3,910 canals, 163 major reservoirs, and 2,376 mini-reservoirs. His most famous construction is the Parakrama Samudra , the largest irrigation project of medieval Sri Lanka. Parākramabāhu's reign
16159-437: The rice rations resulted in the resignation of prime minister Dudley Senanayake . S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike was elected prime minister in 1956. His three-year rule had a profound influence through his self-proclaimed role of "defender of the besieged Sinhalese culture". He introduced the controversial Sinhala Only Act , recognising Sinhala as the only official language of the government. Although partially reversed in 1958,
16302-521: The right of "Unambuwe Bandara" , the crown passed to the brother of one of Narendrasinha's princesses, overlooking Narendrasinha's own son by a Sinhalese concubine . The new king was crowned Sri Vijaya Rajasinha later that year. Kings of the Nayakkar dynasty launched several attacks on Dutch controlled areas, which proved to be unsuccessful. During the Napoleonic Wars , fearing that French control of
16445-495: The rise of militancy. The assassination of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiyappah in 1975 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marked a crisis point. The government of J. R. Jayawardene swept to power in 1977, defeating the United Front government. Jayawardene introduced a new constitution , together with a free-market economy and a powerful executive presidency modelled after that of France. It made Sri Lanka
16588-606: The rivalry resulted in the Amboyna massacre , when several English Company men were executed by agents of the Dutch. The event remained a source of English resentment for several decades, and indeed was used as a cause célèbre as late as the Second Anglo-Dutch War in the 1660s; nevertheless, in the late 1620s the English Company shifted its focus from Indonesia to India. In 1643, the Dutch West India Company established
16731-421: The several decade-long Dutch–Portuguese War . In the 1590s, the voorcompagnie ën ("pioneer companies") emerged, which were given "express instructions to focus on trade and engage in violence only in self-defense". The Dutch took inspiration from England's many joint-stock companies and private investment, including Muscovy Company , Eastland Company , Levant Company , and East India Company . In 1594,
16874-451: The so-called "Fortress in the Sky", built during the reign of Kashyapa I , who ruled between 477 and 495. The Sigiriya rock fortress is surrounded by an extensive network of ramparts and moats. Inside this protective enclosure were gardens, ponds, pavilions, palaces and other structures. In 993 CE, the invasion of Chola emperor Rajaraja I forced the then Sinhalese ruler Mahinda V to flee to
17017-450: The source of highly profitable spices which were in high demand in Europe. A Dutch expedition had already made contact with the islands in 1599, signing several contracts with Bandanese chiefs. The profitability of the spices was heightened by the fact that they grew nowhere else on Earth, making them extremely valuable to whoever controlled them. As the Dutch attempted to form a monopoly over
17160-493: The southern part of Sri Lanka. Taking advantage of this situation, Rajendra I , son of Rajaraja I, launched a large invasion in 1017. Mahinda V was captured and taken to India, and the Cholas sacked the city of Anuradhapura causing the fall of Anuradhapura kingdom . Subsequently, they moved the capital to Polonnaruwa . Following a 17-year-long campaign, Vijayabahu I successfully drove the Chola out of Sri Lanka in 1070, reuniting
17303-616: The spices and forbid the Bandanese from selling to any other group, they resisted, and the Dutch decided to conquer the islands by force. With the aid of Japanese mercenaries , the Dutch launched several military expeditions against the Bandanese. The Dutch attacked most of Portugal's far-flung trading network in and around Asia , including Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka ), and Goa , as well as attacks upon her commercial interests in Japan , Africa (especially Mina ), and South America . Even though
17446-583: The sugarcane plantations and the slave ports needed to resupply their labour. Although weakened by the Iberian Union with Spain, whose attention was focused elsewhere, the Portuguese were able to fight off the initial assault before the Battle of Matanzas Bay provided the WIC with the funds needed for a successful operation. Johan Maurits was appointed governor of " New Holland " and landed at Recife in January 1637. In
17589-701: The suspension of fuel to all non-essential vehicles, and more such economic disorder. Due to the crisis, massive street protests erupted all over the country, with protesters demanding the resignation of the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa . The protests culminated with the storming and siege of the President's House on July 9, 2022, and resulted in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing to Singapore and later emailing his resignation to parliament, formally announcing his resignation and making him
17732-623: The trade. The competition was counterproductive to the companies' interests as it threatened to drive up the price of spices at their source in Indonesia whilst driving them down in Europe. "The present deputies of the East India Company are seriously admonished to look into and give orders to the effect that the ships, which are already equipped or afterwards shall be equipped to sail to the East Indies, can have charge and instruction to damage
17875-531: The two countries the following year, the first of three Anglo-Dutch Wars that would last on and off for two decades and slowly erode Dutch naval power to England's benefit. In 1661, amidst the Qing conquest of China, Ming general Koxinga led a fleet to invade Formosa. The Dutch defense, led by governor Frederick Coyett , held out for nine months . However, after Koxinga defeated Dutch reinforcements from Java, Coyett surrendered Formosa. The Anglo-Dutch Wars were
18018-467: The word Tambapanni . The Persians and Arabs referred to it as Sarandīb (the origin of the word " serendipity ") from Sanskrit Siṃhaladvīpaḥ . Ceilão , the name given to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese when they arrived in 1505, was transliterated into English as Ceylon . As a British crown colony , the island was known as Ceylon; it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country
18161-653: The world not controlled by its East India counterpart: the Atlantic, the Americas and the west coast of Africa. The Dutch also established a trading post in Ayutthaya, modern day Thailand during the reign of King Naresuan , in 1604. In the 17th century, the " Grand Design " of the West India Company involved attempting to corner the international trade in sugar by attacking Portuguese colonies in Brazil and Africa, seizing both
18304-515: The years 1608–1610, the Dutch sought to secure all sorts of commercially and strategically important positions in Southeast Asia, and the VOC rushed to conclude as many contracts as possible with local monarchs and polities in the so-called frontline regions: the Malay Peninsula (particularly Johor ), Sumatra , the Banda Islands , the Moluccas , Timor and southern India . The Dutch conquest of
18447-558: Was a "critical" event according to several historical studies, with Borschberg (2013) stating it "marked a major shift in policy of the VOC" and "set the cornerstone for the establishment of the Dutch colonial empire in Asia", because the resolution transformed the VOC "into an instrument of war and colonial expansion that was directed against the Iberian powers in Asia and later, of course, also against local Asian rulers and polities." Pursuing their quest for alternative routes to Asia for trade,
18590-410: Was a raid on the Vlie estuary in the Netherlands, executed by the English Fleet during the Second Anglo-Dutch War on 19 and 20 August 1666. The attack, named after the commander of the landing force, Rear-Admiral Robert Holmes , was successful in destroying by fire a large Dutch merchant fleet of 140 ships. During the same action, the town of West-Terschelling was burnt down, which caused outrage in
18733-531: Was a vassal of Sri Vijaya led by their king Chandrabhanu briefly invaded Sri Lanka from Insular Southeast Asia . They were then expelled by the South Indian Pandyan dynasty. However, this temporary invasion reinforced the steady flow of the presence of various Austronesian merchant ethnic groups, from Sumatrans (Indonesia) to Lucoes (Philippines) into Sri Lanka which occurred since 200 BCE. Chinese admiral Zheng He and his naval expeditionary force landed at Galle, Sri Lanka in 1409 and got into battle with
18876-436: Was abolished in 1791, and its colonies in Suriname and the Caribbean brought under the direct rule of the state. The economies of the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean had been based on the smuggling of goods and slaves into Spanish America , but with the end of the slave trade in 1814 and the independence of the new nations of South and Central America from Spain, profitability rapidly declined. Dutch traders moved en masse from
19019-454: Was already known to both East Asians and Europeans as long ago as the Anuradhapura period . During a period of great political crisis in the Kingdom of Kotte , the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka and sought to control its maritime trade, with a part of Sri Lanka subsequently becoming a Portuguese possession . After the Sinhalese–Portuguese War , the Dutch colonial empire and the Kingdom of Kandy took control of those areas. Dutch Ceylon
19162-458: Was at war with France, soon moved to occupy Dutch colonies in Asia, South Africa , and the Caribbean. Under the terms of the Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain and France in 1802, the Cape Colony and the islands of the Dutch West Indies that the British had seized were returned to the Republic. Ceylon was not returned to the Dutch and was made a British Crown Colony . After the outbreak of hostilities between Britain and France again in 1803,
19305-411: Was becoming an increasingly important centre of trade, became apparent to the Dutch, and the disagreement was resolved with the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 . Under its terms, the Netherlands ceded Malacca and their bases in India to the British, and recognized the British claim to Singapore. In return, the British handed over Bencoolen and agreed not to sign treaties with rulers in the "islands south of
19448-415: Was captured from the Portuguese in 1605, but an attack on Malacca the following year narrowly failed in its objective to provide a more strategically located base in the East Indies with favourable monsoon winds. The Dutch found what they were looking for in Jakarta , conquered by Jan Pieterszoon Coen in 1619, later renamed Batavia after the putative Dutch ancestors the Batavians, and which would become
19591-471: Was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khalji . It is probable that many of the scriptures from Nalanda are preserved in Sri Lanka's many monasteries and that the written form of the Tripiṭaka , including Sinhalese Buddhist literature, were part of the University of Nalanda. In 245 BCE, bhikkhunī Sanghamitta arrived with the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree, which is considered to be a sapling from the historical Bodhi Tree under which Gautama Buddha became enlightened. It
19734-419: Was exiled to India. The Kandyan Convention formally ceded the entire country to the British Empire. Attempts by Sri Lankan noblemen to undermine British power in 1818 during the Uva Rebellion were thwarted by Governor Robert Brownrigg . The beginning of the modern period of Sri Lanka is marked by the Colebrooke–Cameron reforms of 1833. They introduced a utilitarian and liberal political culture to
19877-428: Was held at the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya in Sri Lanka under the patronage of Valagamba in 25 BCE. The council was held in response to a year in which the harvests in Sri Lanka were particularly poor and many Buddhist monks subsequently died of starvation. Because the Pali Canon was at that time oral literature maintained in several recensions by dhammabhāṇaka s ( dharma reciters), the surviving monks recognised
20020-420: Was returned to England the following year, thereby ending Dutch rule in continental North America, but leaving behind a large Dutch community under English rule that persisted with its language, church and customs until the mid-18th century. In South America, the Dutch seized Cayenne from the French in 1658 and drove off a French attempt to retake it a year later. However, it was returned to France in 1664, since
20163-400: Was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new president after winning the presidential election as a left-wing candidate. On 14 November 2024, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's National People's Power (NPP), a left-leaning alliance, received a two-thirds majority in parliament in Sri Lankan parliamentary election. Sri Lanka, an island in South Asia shaped as a teardrop or a pear/ mango , lies on
20306-434: Was taken by the British Empire , which extended control over the whole island, colonising it as British Ceylon from 1815 to 1948. A national movement for political independence arose in the early 20th century, and 1948, Ceylon became a dominion . It was succeeded by the republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. Sri Lanka's more recent history was marred by the 26-year Sri Lankan Civil War , which began in 1983 and ended in 2009, when
20449-445: Was to become the boundaries of modern-day Indonesia. Although highly populated and agriculturally productive Java was under Dutch domination for most of the 350 years of the combined VOC and Dutch East Indies era, many areas remained independent for much of this time including Aceh , Lombok , Bali , and Borneo . In 1871, all of the Dutch possessions on the Dutch Gold Coast were sold to Britain . The Dutch West India Company
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