Sri Lanka
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"Ceylon" redirects here. For the time period of 1948–1972, see Dominion of Ceylon. For other uses, see Ceylon (disambiguation).
| Democratic Socialist Republic ofSri Lanka | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Anthem: Sri Lanka Matha Mother Sri Lanka | ||||||
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| Capital | Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (Administrative)  Colombo (Commercial)6°56′N 79°52′E | |||||
| Largest city | Colombo | |||||
| Official languages | ||||||
| Recognized | English | |||||
| Demonym | Sri Lankan | |||||
| Government | Unitary semi-presidentialconstitutional republic | |||||
| • | President | Maithripala Sirisena | ||||
| • | Prime Minister | Ranil Wickremesinghe | ||||
| • | Speaker of the Parliament | Karu Jayasuriya | ||||
| • | Chief Justice | K. Sripavan | ||||
| Legislature | Parliament | |||||
| Independence from the United Kingdom | ||||||
| • | Dominion | 4 February 1948 | ||||
| • | Republic | 22 May 1972 | ||||
| • | Current constitution | 7 September 1978 | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| • | Total | 65,610 km2 (122nd) 25,332 sq mi | ||||
| • | Water (%) | 4.4 | ||||
| Population | ||||||
| • | 2012 census | 20,277,597[1] (57th) | ||||
| • | Density | 323/km2 (40th) 836.6/sq mi | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | 2015 estimate | |||||
| • | Total | $233.637 billion[2] (60th) | ||||
| • | Per capita | $11,069[2] (99th) | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | 2015 estimate | |||||
| • | Total | $80.591 billion[2] (68th) | ||||
| • | Per capita | $3,818[2] (114th) | ||||
| Gini (2010) | 36.4[3] medium | |||||
| HDI (2014) |  0.757[4]high · 73rd | |||||
| Currency | Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) | |||||
| Time zone | SLST (UTC+5:30) | |||||
| Date format |
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| Drives on the | left | |||||
| Calling code | +94 | |||||
| ISO 3166 code | LK | |||||
| Internet TLD | ||||||
| Website www | ||||||
Sri Lanka (/sriːˈlɑːŋkə, -ˈlæŋkə/ or 
i/ʃriː-/;[5][6] Sinhalese: ශ්රී ලංකා Śrī Laṃkā, Tamil: இலங்கை Ilaṅkai), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known from the beginning of British colonial ruleuntil 1972 as Ceylon (/sᵻˈlɒnˌ seɪ-ˌ siː-/), is an island country in South Asia near south-east India.
i/ʃriː-/;[5][6] Sinhalese: ශ්රී ලංකා Śrī Laṃkā, Tamil: இலங்கை Ilaṅkai), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and known from the beginning of British colonial ruleuntil 1972 as Ceylon (/sᵻˈlɒnˌ seɪ-ˌ siː-/), is an island country in South Asia near south-east India.
Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest. Its documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years.[7] Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road[8] through to World War II.[9]
A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, and languages.[10] In addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors,Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda.[11] Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, the Pāli Canon, dates back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC.[12][13] Sri Lanka's recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009.[14]
Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a Semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.
Sri Lanka has had a long history of international engagement, as a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the G77, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are currently rated among high human development on the Human Development Index.[4]