In 1505 the Portuguese established control over
the valuable spice trade, they were dislodged with help from the
Dutch, then the British moved in. By 1815 the whole island, then
called Ceylon, was under British control and English was introduced
as the national language.
In 1948, Ceylon became an independent member of
the British Commonwealth, but tensions arose between the majority
Sinhalese population and the Tamil minority. Ethnic and religious
conflicts persisted for decades, marked by civil unrest, terrorism,
social dislocation and slow economic development. A Norwegian
delegation brokered a cease-fire with Tamil separists in 2001
which held, more-or-less, for several years.
The situation deteriorated
in 2007 with attacks in the capital, and the government officially
withdrew from the cease-fire. There have since been more than a dozen major attacks in and around Colombo - the northern part of the country is effectively closed to tourists. Check the travel advisories before planning a holiday in Sri Lanka.
