An Indian Ocean isle kept 125,000 years of human traces
Sri Lanka, once called Ceylon, is a South Asian island nation divided from the subcontinent by Mannar’s gulf and the Palk Strait. Documented history runs over 3,000 years, with prehistoric settlement evidence about 125,000 years old, and independence under the Ceylon name arriving in 1948.
Cave sites such as Pahiyangala, around 37,000 years old, Batadombalena and Belilena yielded the remains of Balangoda Man, along with hints of early farming and dogs used to drive game. The Vedda, about 2,500 people today, are probably descended from the first inhabitants. Chronicles open Sinhalese history in 543 BCE, when the exiled Prince Vijaya landed near Mannar with 700 followers; his men's hands turned red from the soil, giving the name Tambapanni.
Anuradhapura served as capital for close to 1,400 years. Around 250 BCE Mahinda, son of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, brought Buddhism to Mihintale, and five years later the nun Sanghamitta planted the Sri Maha Bodhi, counted as the oldest human-planted tree with a continuous record. A famine prompted monks in 25 BCE to commit the Pali Canon to palm leaf so it would not be lost. Anula, ruling from 47 to 42 BCE, was the first known female ruler in Asia, and Kashyapa I raised the Sigiriya rock fortress in the late 400s.
Chola invaders sacked Anuradhapura in 1017 and moved the capital to Polonnaruwa until Vijayabahu I expelled them in 1070 after a 17-year war. Parākramabāhu the Great, reigning from 1153 to 1186, built 1,470 reservoirs, more than any other ruler, and the vast Parakrama Samudra.
Greek geographers wrote Taprobane, while Arabs and Persians said Sarandib, the root of serendipity. The Portuguese arrived in 1505 and called it Ceilão, anglicised as Ceylon; the Dominion of Ceylon became independent in 1948 and took the Sri Lanka name in 1972. Around 22 million people live there, roughly three-quarters Sinhalese and 15 percent Tamil, and the country leads South Asia in human development.
Source: Sri Lanka
