more comfortable and the southern line to Matara passes some of the best beaches. Motorbike and self-drive car hire are becoming more popular, though motorists often run an obstacle race around cows and dogs – many of the latter significantly three-legged. It’s common to rent a car with a driver for a day trip or a multi-day tour of the island; prices are reasonable. Local transport consists of buses, taxis and auto-rickshaws. Ask around and agree a fare beforehand.

Sri Lanka: History
Pre-20th-Century History
Legend and history are deeply intertwined in the early accounts of Sri Lanka: Buddha, Rama and biblical Adam are all claimed to have strode the island. It is probable that the Ramayana, and its story of Rama and Sita, recounted throughout Asia, has some fragile basis in reality, for Sri Lanka’s history recounts many invasions from southern India. Whatever the legends, the reality is that Sri Lanka’s original inhabitants, the Veddahs (Wanniyala-aetto), were hunter-gatherers who subsisted on the island’s natural bounty. Much about their origins is unclear. However, anthropologists generally believe that Sri Lanka’s original inhabitants are descendants from the people of the late Stone Age and may have existed on the island since 16,000 BC. The first Sinhalese, originally from North India, arrived in Sri Lanka around the 5th or 6th century BC. A number of Sinhalese kingdoms, including Anuradhapura in the north, took root across the island during the 4th century BC. Buddhism was introduced by Mahinda, son of the Indian Mauryan emperor Ashoka, in the 3rd century BC, and it quickly became the established religion and the focus of a strong nationalism. However, Anuradhapura was not impregnable. Repeated invasions from southern India over the next 1000 years left Sri Lanka in an ongoing state of dynastic power struggle.

The Portuguese arrived in Colombo in 1505 and gained a monopoly on the invaluable spice trade. By 1597, the colonisers had taken formal control of the island. However, they failed to dislodge the powerful Sinhalese kingdom in Kandy which, in 1658, enlisted Dutch help to expel the Portuguese. The Dutch were more interested in trade and profits than religion or land, and only half-heartedly resisted when the British arrived in 1796. The Brits wore down Kandy’s sovereignty and in 1815 became the first European power to rule the entire island. Coffee, tea, cinnamon and coconut plantations (worked by Tamil labourers imported from southern India) sprang up and English was introduced as the national language.

Modern History
Then known as Ceylon, Sri Lanka finally achieved full independence in 1948. The government adopted socialist policies, but promoted Sinhalese interests, making Sinhalese the national language and effectively reserving the best jobs for the Sinhalese, partly to address the imbalance of power between the majority Sinhalese and the English-speaking, Christian-educated elite. It prompted the Tamil Hindu minority to press for greater autonomy in the main Tamil areas in the north and east.

The country’s ethnic and religious conflicts escalated as competition for wealth and work intensified. When Bandaranaike was assassinated in 1959 trying to reconcile the two communities, his widow, Sirimavo, became the world’s first female prime minister. She continued her husband’s socialist policies, but the economy went from bad to worse. A Maoist revolt in 1971 led to the death of thousands. One year later, the country became a republic and made Sri Lanka its official name.

In 1972 the constitution formally made Buddhism the state’s primary religion, and Tamil places at university were reduced. Subsequent civil unrest resulted in a state of emergency in Tamil areas. Sinhalese