Sri Lanka
Sri LankaThe first people to inhabit Sri Lanka, called Ceylon until 1972, were tribal people from India called the Veddahs. Vejaya, a prince from northern India, came, with other founders of the Sinhalese culture, to Sri Lanka in early 400's B.C., and encouraged the first major immigration movement there. The center of this Sinhalese civilization, that lasted from 200 B.C. until A.D. 993, was Anuradhapura, a city in northern Sri Lanka that housed ther major shrines and irrigation projects that the Sinhalese developed. In the 100's B.C. the TAmils from southern India began invading Sri lanka, and eventually gained the northern half of the island, pushing the Sinhalese to the south. From A.D. 900's until the 1500's, Sri Lanka's history centers mostly on the struggles between the Tamil kings and the Sinhalese kings.