[20220114]IF10213_斯里兰卡.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov Updated January 14, 2022Sri LankaBackground and Historical Setting The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon until 1972, is a constitutional democracy in South Asia with relatively high levels of development. It is strategically located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern tip of Indias Deccan Peninsula. The island nation was settled by successive waves of migration from India beginning in the 5th-century BC. Indo-Aryans from northern India established Sinhalese Buddhist kingdoms in the central part of the island. Tamil Hindus from southern India also settled in northeastern coastal areas and established a kingdom on the Jaffna Peninsula. Beginning in the 16th century, Sri Lanka was colonized in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, and English. Although Ceylon gained its independence from Britain peacefully in 1948, succeeding decades were marred by ethnic conflict between the countrys Sinhalese majority, clustered in the densely populated South and West, and the largely Hindu Tamil minority living in the North and East. Following independence, the Tamilswho had attained educational and civil service positions under the Brit