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Jan 1, 1505
Portuguese Arrive in Colombo
In 1505 the Portuguese arrived in Colombo, which is the Capital of Ceylon. There they marked their start of European interest. -
Dutch force out Portuguese
In 1658 the Dutch force out the Portuguese settlers and they start taking control over the entire island except for the central kingdom of Kandy. -
British come to Ceylon
In 1796 the British have started to take over the island. -
Kingdom of Kandy conquered
1815-1833 the Kingdom of Kandy was now conquered and the British started bringing in workers from southern India to work in coffee, coconut plantations, and tea. Eventually the whole island was brought under the one British rule. -
First Movement (National)
Riots started because of World War I even though Sri Lanka was barely apart of it. One thing that did happen was a German ship was shot down by an Australian ship in the Bay of Bengal. Because of this riots started by Muslims on the west coast of the island. -
Ceylon used as Base for British Military
The British army used Ceylon as a base while fighting against the Japanese in World War 2. But in 1942 the capital was soon bombed by the Japanese. -
Ceylon gains Independence
In 1948 Ceylon finally gains independence from the British and Indian Tamil plantation workers now had their rights taken away. Tamil is people who inhabit parts of southern India and Sri Lanka. -
Ceylon changes name
In 1972 Ceylon had changed their name to Sri Lanka and it was now Buddhism’s primary place as its country’s religion. -
Tamil United Liberation Party
The Tamil United Liberation Party has won all seats in the Tamil areas. People who are Anti-Tamil have now started riots and it has lead to over 100 Tamils dead -
Terrists kill nearly 300 Sinhalese
Terriosts in Sri Lanka kill nearly 300 Sinhalese. It was the first LTTE suicide bomber and it killed over 30 soldiers. The Tamil language was made an official language. The last Indian troops left and the CIvil war presumed. -
First Eelam War
This was the first big attack by the LTTE. During this time 13 soldiers were killed by the LTTE ambush. This lead to a lot of younger Tamils to join the LTTE to fight against the Sri Lankan government. -
Black July
After the LTTE's first attack 300-400 Tamils were killed. Many of the Tamils went to foreign countires. This is seen as the trigger to the start of the civil war between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE. -
Tsunami
A major Tsunami hit Sri Lanka it killed over 30,000 people as well as a couple 100,000 people in living in Asia. This affected the community greatly. -
New President
A new president was elected in Sri Lanka. Mahinda Rajapakse was the son of Dan Alwin Rajapkse. -
End of LTTE
The LTTE is defeated. When the Sri Lankan militia came around some of the LTTE supporters they had committed suicide. The LTTE was ended by S. Pathmanathan sending an email that it was over.
