Those who want many cultural experiences without having to travel long distances should visit the small island nation of Sri Lanka. No country in the world can offer so many world heritage sites in such a small area as Sri Lanka. Here are seven world heritage sites on the UNESCO list. I visited six of them; Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Sigiriya, Dambulla, Kandy and Galle.
In addition to these places, I visited the commercial capital Colombo with its bustling metropolitan life, the Mihintale with its beautiful scenery and its unique monastic residences. The trip ended with a few days of relaxing beach life on a Mirissa’s beautiful beaches and a whale safari where I had the opportunity to see blue whales, the world’s largest animals. I also had time for a short visit to the coastal town of Matara in the south where I was blessed by a Buddhist monk for the second time during the trip.
During my three-week trip to Sri Lanka, I got around by train, local buses, three-wheeled tuc-tucs, bicycle and on foot.
It is easy to move around Sri Lanka. There are train lines between major cities, the bus connections are good and the trips are frequent. The supply of tuc-tucs is good everywhere. And all transportation is incredibly cheap!
Visit Sri Lanka for many great cultural experiences and wonderful beaches!
Sri Lanka became the 112 country / autonomous region I visited.
Sri Lanka history in brief
According to cheeroutdoor, archaeologists have unearthed stone tools that indicate that humans have been living on the island of Sri Lanka for some 500,000 years. The small ethnic group Vedda constitutes a remnant of the indigenous population. The larger ethnic groups came to the island much later from India, but both Sinhalese and Tamils believe that they were first. Modern research claims that the Sinhalese immigrated about 400 years before our era, while the Tamils came a couple of hundred years later. The first Sinhalese communities were formed in the northern part of the island.
Sri Lanka history, older
200s BC
Buddhism came to Sri Lanka
200- – 1000s after Christ
Had the Buddhist Sinhalese culture a period of greatness. During this period, advanced irrigation systems were developed by the rice fields which led to high prosperity
13th century
After repeated invasions from South India, the Sri Lankan kingdoms fell and the Sinhalese moved to the more rainy southwestern part of the island. A Tamil province was now founded with Indian help in the north
14th century
The Tamil culture had a heyday on the Jaffna Peninsula
1505
The first Europeans, Portuguese, arrive in Sri Lanka. At this time there were two Sinhalese kingdoms, Kotte and Kandy, in the south and a Tamil kingdom in the north. Muslim Moors, descendants of Arab traders who arrived in the 8th and 8th centuries, also lived on the island. These controlled the spice trade
Despite opposition, the Portuguese managed to colonize large parts of the island within a century, and their missionaries successfully spread Catholicism.
17th century, middle
The Portuguese were expelled by the Dutch
18th century, late
The British expelled the Dutch
1802
Ceylon became a British Crown Colony
19th century, late
As a counter-reaction to the changes brought about by colonialism, Buddhist-inspired nationalist currents emerged. The main leader of this movement was Anrika Dharmapala, who reformed Buddhism and laid the foundations of Buddhist-Sinhalese nationalism.
History of Sri Lanka, modern 1900 – 1999
1900s, beginning
Increased demands for self-government increased among the English-speaking elite
1931
In accordance with a constitutional reform, a National Council with legislative tasks was established within the framework of the British Government
Ceylon, as the first colony in Asia, held general elections to the National Council
1948
In February, Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, became an independent state within the British Commonwealth. Stephen Senanayake was elected Prime Minister, leader of the right-wing United National Party (UNP), which he founded in 1946.
1952
Died Prime Minister Stephen Senanayake. His son Dudley took over the post and the party won a landslide victory in the election
1956
In the parliamentary elections, the Socialist Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) founded by Solomon Bandaranaike won. SLFP won largely by playing on singles nationalist sentiments. Riots broke out when Bandaranaike made Sinhalese the only official language shortly after the election
1959
Murdered in Bandaranaike and succeeded by his widow Sirimavo who became the world’s first female prime minister
1965
Dudley Senanayake and his party won the UNP parliamentary election and regained government power
1970
Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her party won the parliamentary elections and the government
1971
broke out an armed uprising, led by students and activists of the Marxist Sinhalese movement People’s Liberation Front JVP
1972
The country got a new constitution and became a republic under the name Sri Lanka
During the 1970s, Tamils became increasingly discriminated against. Demands for increased autonomy were increasingly replaced by demands for a separate state in the north and east: Eelam. Several radical movements were formed. One group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), took up arms for their cause
1977
The parliamentary elections led to the UNP regaining power
1978
A new constitution was adopted that strengthened the president’s power. UNP leader JR Jayawardena was named president
1982
JR Jayawardena won the country’s first official presidential election
1983
After the “Tamil Tigers”, LTTE, killed several Sinhalese soldiers in an attack in July, the worst violence in the country’s history broke, so far. The violence mainly affected Tamils who were killed in the hundreds. More than 100,000 Tamils fled across the strait to India. In their attempts to overthrow the LTTE, the military advanced in the Tamil-dominated areas to the north and east
The “Tamil Tigers” gained control of large parts of the Jaffna Peninsula in the north. The guerrillas carried out terrorist acts in the southern part of the country. Gradually, the LTTE maneuvered out other Tamil guerrilla groups and established a global network of contacts in support of its struggle.
1987
In June, a first peace deal was signed between the LTTE and the government, following the mediation of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. An Indian peacekeeping force was sent to Sri Lanka, which included 100,000 men
The Singles Nationalist JVP launched a terror campaign against supporters of the peace agreement
1988
UNP candidate Ranasinghe Premadasa was elected new president. The UNP also won the next parliamentary elections
Tamil became the official language along with Sinhala
1990
The Indian peacekeeping force was withdrawn despite the failure to achieve peace
The military defeated the JVP with heavy losses as a result, thousands of people had been killed
In the northern part of the country, the LTTE attacked Muslims. Hundreds were killed in massacres and tens of thousands displaced
1991
In May, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in a suicide bombing during an election rally in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Tigers were behind the act which resulted in the guerrillas losing their former support in India
1993
In a terrorist attack carried out by the LTTE in Colombo, President Premadasa was killed
1994
When the SLFP returned to government, the party led an election alliance that became the largest in parliament.
In the presidential election, the SLFP’s candidate Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga won. Her mother, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was appointed Prime Minister
1999
Ahead of the presidential election, Kumaratunga was injured in a bomb blast. Shortly after the attack, she was re-elected president