Sri Lanka previously named Ceylon is an island of the Indian Ocean. It is about the half the size of Alabama. In the 5th century B.C Indo-Aryan emigrated from India to Sri Lanka. The largest ethnic group in Sri were the Sinhalese and the second largest ethnic group are the Tamils. They emigrated between the 3rd century B.C and A.D 1200. The Sinhalese and Tamil fought over who ruled the island. The Tamils claimed the northern part of the island and the Sinhalese claimed the southern section. Tamils follow Hindus and Sinhalese followed Buddhist. The Portuguese took control of Ceylon in 1505 until the Dutch India Company overtook it in 1658. Then the British took it away in 1796. In 1802 Ceylon became an English Crown. The British exported coffee, tea, and rubber on plantations. “On Feb. 4, 1948, after pressure from Ceylonese nationalist leaders (which briefly unified the Tamil and Sinhalese), Ceylon became a self-governing dominion of the Commonwealth of Nations”. On May 22, 1972, Ceylon was renamed to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka changed its name because it was given to them by France, that why the government voted to changed it.
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