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).

Coordinates: 7°N 81°E

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජය (Sinhalese) Srī Laṁkā Prajātāntrika Samājavādī Janarajaya இலங்கை ஜனநாயக சோசலிச குடியரசு (Tamil)
Flag Emblem
Anthem: Sri Lanka Matha Mother Sri Lanka Menu 0:00
Capital	Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (Administrative) Colombo (Commercial) 6°56′N 79°52′E
Largest city	Colombo
Official languages	Sinhalese Tamil[1]
Recognized	English
Ethnic groups (2012[2])	74.9% Sinhalese 11.2% Sri Lankan Tamils 9.2% Sri Lankan Moors 4.2% Indian Tamils 0.5% other
Religion	70.2% Buddhism 12.6% Hinduism 9.7% Islam 7.4% Christianity 0.1% Other/None[3]
Demonym	Sri Lankan
Government	Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
• President	Maithripala Sirisena
• Prime Minister	Ranil Wickremesinghe
• Speaker of the Parliament	Karu Jayasuriya
• Chief Justice	Priyasath Dep
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 (25,330 sq mi) (122nd)
• Water (%)	4.4
Population
• 2012 census	20,277,597[4] (57th)
• Density	309/km2 (800.3/sq mi) (40th)
GDP (PPP)	2016 estimate
• Total	$237.791 billion[5]
• Per capita	$11,189[5]
GDP (nominal)	2016 estimate
• Total	$82.239 billion[5]
• Per capita	$3,870[5]
Gini (2010)	36.4[6] medium
HDI (2014)	0.757[7] high · 73rd
Currency	Sri Lankan rupee (LKR)
Time zone	SLST (UTC+5:30)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)(English) yyyy/mm/dd (Sinhalese)
Drives on the	left
Calling code	+94
ISO 3166 code	LK
Internet TLD	.lk .ලංකා .இலங்கை
Website www.gov.lk

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Sri Lanka (/sriː ˈlɑːŋkə, -ˈlæŋkə/ or ⁱ/ʃriː-/;^[8][9] Sinhalese: ශ්‍රී ලංකා Śrī Laṃkā, Tamil: இலங்கை Ilaṅkai), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, 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.
Sri Lanka's documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years.^[10] Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road^[11] through to World War II.^[12] Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon (/sᵻˈlɒn, seɪ-, siː-/). 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 (LTTE) in 2009.^[13]
A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, and languages.^[14] 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.^[15] Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, the Pāli Canon, date back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC.^[16][17]
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.^[7]

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