Showing 9 of 16 articles — page 1 of 2
Independence Without a Single Shot: How Ceylon Became Sri Lanka
Unlike many former colonies, Ceylon's transition from British rule to independence in 1948 was negotiated rather than fought fo...
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The Vedda: Sri Lanka's Indigenous Forest People
Long before Sinhalese or Tamil kingdoms rose on the island, the Vedda people were already living in its forests. Their story is...
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Ratnapura: The City of Gems
Sri Lanka has been mined for sapphires, rubies and other precious stones for over two thousand years - and the gem-bearing grav...
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How Sri Lankan Iron Smelters Beat the Monsoon Wind to Make Steel
In the hills near Samanalawewa, archaeologists found the remains of furnaces engineered to face the wind - evidence that ancien...
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The Jaffna Kingdom: Sri Lanka's Northern Tamil Monarchy
For over three centuries, an independent Tamil kingdom governed Sri Lanka's northern peninsula, developing its own dynasty, its...
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The Ancient Port of Mantai: Where Rome Met the Indian Ocean
Long before European ships found their way east, a harbour town on Sri Lanka's northwest coast was already a meeting point for ...
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Ceylon Tea: How a Coffee Catastrophe Created an Industry
When a fungal disease wiped out Ceylon's coffee plantations in the 1870s, a Scottish planter named James Taylor tried something...
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Serendipity: The Word Sri Lanka Gave the World
An English aristocrat coined a word in 1754 based on an old Persian fairy tale about the island - and it has quietly become one...
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The Kingdom of Kandy: The Mountain Fortress That Outlasted Two Empires
For over two centuries, while the Portuguese and then the Dutch controlled Sri Lanka's coast, a single independent kingdom held...
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