According to localtimezone, the population is made up of Sinhalese (74.9%), Indian Tamils (4.2%), Tamils (11.2%), Moors (9.2%), others (0.5%), descendants of Arab people or Arabized. The oldest residents of the country, the vedda, are now reduced to a few thousand. The oldest population is represented by Australoid people (veddidi), still present in small groups in the forest areas of the interior. In the sec. Street. C. a wave of migration from northern India brought the Sinhalese element connected with the Indo-Aryan populations to the islandprotagonists of the Indo-Gangetic agricultural civilization. The Sinhalese settled in the northernmost, more arid but healthier part of the island, developing irrigated rice cultivation. At the time of Emperor Aśoka theyacquired Hinayana (or “Little Vehicle”) Buddhism, which has endured to this day. The island was never organized in a single state, but in numerous small realms, the largest and most influential of which were initially that of Kandy and subsequently the one that had its capital in Anuradhapura. In the sec. XI this kingdom was conquered by new populations from southern India; Thus began the immigration of the Tamils who, however, settled mainly in the northern regions. The Sinhalese retreated to the inland mountainous areas and in particular to the southwestern ones.
This distribution still existed when the first Europeans, the Portuguese, in the sixteenth century. occupied the island: since then the ethnic picture has not changed much, however, since the end of the seventies, a bloody guerrilla has opposed the Tamil minority, which claims the independence of their territories, to the Sinhalese majority. According to the UNHCR 500,000 (as of mid-2007) are displaced, mainly in the northern and eastern provinces, who have had to leave their homes to escape the violence, or have lost their homes due to the 2004 tsunami. Demographic pressure has begun to be felt in the aftermath of independence, when the island’s population recorded an extraordinary growth: from 1946 (6.6 million residents) to 2001 it tripled. The annual growth rate is declining more due to a phenomenon of socio-economic development than due to the effects of intense propaganda for the regulation of births. The density of Sri Lanka is 309 residents per km², but the population is irregularly distributed in the various parts of the island: denser in the wetland and in the higher areas, more sparse and scattered in the dry area. Consequently there are districts with a very low density, such as those of the northern region (Mannar, Mullaittivu, Vavuniya), or south-east (Monaragala) and, on the contrary, densely populated areas such as that of Colombo and Gampaha, in the western region. Settlement in rural villages clearly prevails (80% of the residents live in small towns), which generally welcome an ethnically homogeneous population and present significant differences depending on whether they are Sinhalese or Tamil. Borrowed from India, a caste organization that places farmers at the top of the social ladder also survives in Sri Lanka (or southeastern (Monaragala) and, conversely, densely populated areas such as that of the Colombo and Gampaha, in the western region. Settlement in rural villages clearly prevails (80% of the residents live in small towns), which generally welcome an ethnically homogeneous population and present significant differences depending on whether they are Sinhalese or Tamil. Borrowed from India, a caste organization that places farmers at the top of the social ladder also survives in Sri Lanka (or southeastern (Monaragala) and, conversely, densely populated areas such as that of the Colombo and Gampaha, in the western region. Settlement in rural villages clearly prevails (80% of the residents live in small towns), which generally welcome an ethnically homogeneous population and present significant differences depending on whether they are Sinhalese or Tamil.
Borrowed from India, a caste organization that places farmers at the top of the social ladder also survives in Sri Lanka (which generally welcome an ethnically homogeneous population and present significant differences depending on whether they are Sinhalese or Tamil. Borrowed from India, a caste organization that places farmers at the top of the social ladder also survives in Sri Lanka (which generally welcome an ethnically homogeneous population and present significant differences depending on whether they are Sinhalese or Tamil. Borrowed from India, a caste organization that places farmers at the top of the social ladder also survives in Sri Lanka (goyigama), some of which represent the ruling class of the country. Urbanism is limited to a few centers, in particular to the historic capital, Colombo, a port city enhanced by colonial traffic and more recently by industrial activities. It is a city that mixes colonial features with modern aspects. In the background Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital, located a few kilometers S of Colombo; Formerly called Kotte, the city houses the parliament building, inaugurated in 1982. Other cities that expanded in the last decades of the twentieth century are located on the southwest coast (Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia, residential area of Colombo, Galle, Negombo, Moratuwa), lined up in the populous belt headed by Colombo. Inside, the main city is ancient Kandy; in the north is Jaffna, an active port center, and along the east coast are the ports of Trincomalee and Batticaloa.
