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Home Country: Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located about 31 kilometers (19.3 mi) off the southern coast of India. It is home to around twenty million people.

Because of its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and South East Asia. It has been a center of Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the population; Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island, form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors, Burghers, Kaffirs and the Malays.

The country is famous for the production and export of cinnamon, Ceylon tea, coffee, coconuts and rubber. The natural beauty of Sri Lanka's tropical forests, beaches and landscape, as well as its rich cultural heritage, make it a world famous tourist destination. The Colombo Stock Exchange reported the highest growth in the world for 2003, and today Sri Lanka has the highest per capita income in South Asia.

After over two thousand years of rule by local kingdoms, parts of Sri Lanka were colonized by Portugal and the Netherlands beginning in the 16th century, before control of the entire country was ceded to the British Empire in 1815. A nationalist political movement arose in the country in the early 20th century resulted in political independence eventually granted by the British in 1948.

In ancient times, Sri Lanka was known by a variety of names. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobane and Arabs referred to it as Serendib (the origin of the word "serendipity"). The Portuguese named it Ceilão when they arrived in 1505, which was transliterated into English as Ceylon. In 1972, the official name of the country was changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka". In 1978, it again changed to "Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".  The name Sri Lanka is derived from the Sanskrit words for “sacred island.”

The climate of Sri Lanka is tropical and warm. Its position between 5 and 10 north latitude gives a warm climate with ocean winds and considerable moisture. Average temperatures across the country range from 16 °C (61 °F) in the Central Highlands, where frost may occur for several days in the winter, to 33 °C (91 °F) in low-altitude areas. Day and night temperatures may vary by 4 -7 °C (7 - 13°F). During the coldest days, many people wear coats and sweaters. May, the hottest period, precedes the summer monsoon rains. As monsoon winds from the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal encounter the mountain slopes of the Central Highlands, they unload heavy rains on the slopes and the southwestern areas of the island. Some areas can receive as much as 98 inches of rain in a month during this time. Between December to March, monsoon winds come from the northeast, bringing moisture from the Bay of Bengal.

The Colombo World Trade Center

The Constitution of Sri Lanka establishes a democratic, socialist republic in Sri Lanka, which is also a unitary state. The government is a mixture of the presidential system and the parliamentary system. The President of Sri Lanka is the head of state, the commander in chief of the armed forces, as well as head of government, and is popularly elected for a six-year term. In the exercise of duties, the President is responsible to the Parliament of Sri Lanka, a unicameral 225-member legislature. The President appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers composed of elected members of parliament. The President's deputy is the Prime Minister, who leads the ruling party in parliament and shares many executive responsibilities, mainly in domestic affairs. Members of parliament are elected by universal suffrage based on a modified proportional representation system by district to a six-year term.

On July 1, 1960 the people of Sri Lanka elected the first-ever female head of government: Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. Her daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga later served for a short period as the prime minister between August and December 1994 before being elected as president from 1994 to 2005 for 2 consecutive terms. The current president and prime minister, both of whom took office on November 21, 2005, are Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ratnasiri Wickremanayake respectively.

Information and pictures from Wikipedia.com