Page 65 - Soul of India: The Colorful South

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break away from the country. Indira Gandhi was assassinated in 1984, and India’s internal
turmoil continued throughout the decade that followed.

Sri Lanka

Facts & Figures

• Area: 25,332 square miles

• Capital: Colombo

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• Ethnicity: Sinhalese 74.9%, Sri Lankan Tamil 11.2%, Sri Lankan Moors 9.2%, Indian
Tamil 4.2%, other 0.5%

• Location: Sri Lanka lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal.

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rising only in the south-central part. Amongst these is the highest point Pidurutalagala,
reaching 8,281feet above sea level. Sri Lanka’s coastline is 1,585 kilometers long. The
coastline and adjacent waters support highly productive marine ecosystems such as
fringing coral reefs, shallow beds of coastal and estuarine seagrasses.

• Population: 22,053,488

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other Christian 1.3%, other 0.05%

• Time Zone: Sri Lanka is on Sri Lanka Standard Time, ten and a half hours ahead of U.S.
EST. When it is 6am in Washington D.C., it is 4:30pm in Colombo.

National Holidays: Sri Lanka

In addition to the holidays listed below, www.timeanddate.com/holidays.
Sri Lanka celebrates a number of national
02/04 National Day
holidays that follow a lunar calendar,
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traveling during these holidays, please visit
12/25 Christmas Day

Historical Overview of Sri Lanka

Early History

The origins of Sri Lanka are often attributed to religious myth, but archaeologists believe the
island was occupied by hunter-gathers when the Sinhalese—a northern Indian tribal people—
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then founded a kingdom named for its capital city, Anuradhapuran. By the third century BC,

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