COUNTRY OVERVIEW
Location
Sri Lanka a beautiful island in the Indian Ocean in the shape of a tear drop, popularly known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean is located to the South of the Indian subcontinent between 5 55’ and 9 55’ North of the equator and between 79 42’ and 81 52 Eastern longitude.
History
The earliest reference to this island as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean came in the Indian manuscript called “Skanda Puranaya”
Then it was also referred to in the “Ramayanaya” that came several centuries later
According to the “Ramayanaya” Sri Lanka was the home land of the dominant king “Ravana”
Ancient astronomers believed that the equinoctial point of the universe was positioned in “Sri Lanka Puraya” then capital of this country.
In the first ever known world map created by Egyptian Claudius Ptolamy in 140 AC, this land was referred to as “Taprobane”
Arab geographer called Edris later described this island as “Serenada” & “Serendib” in his world map
Later this island came to be known as “Ceylan”, “Selan” and most popularly as CEYLON…!!
Population
21,675,648 (July 2013) Country comparison to the world: 59
Size of the County
Total: 65,610 sq km
Dimensions: 430km North to South, 225km East to West
Coastline: 1,340km
Land: 64,630 sq km /water: 980 sq km
Country comparison to the world: 122
Currency (code)
Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR)
Independence
4 February 1948
Administrative Capital
Sri Jayewardenepura
Commercial Capital
Colombo
Nationalities
Sinhalese 73.8%, Sri Lankan Moors 7.2%, Indian Tamil 4.6%, Sri Lankan Tamil 3.9%, other 0.5%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Religions
Buddhist (official) 69.1%, Muslim 7.6%, Hindu 7.1%, Christian 6.2%, unspecified 10% (2001 census provisional data)
Languages
Sinhala (official and national language) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8%
Note: English, spoken competently by about 10% of the population, is commonly used by the government and is referred to as the link language in the constitution
International Dialing +94
Electricity 230 – 240 volts, 50 cycles AC. If you travel with a laptop computer bring a stabilizer
Time
Standard time of Sri Lanka is 5 hours 30 minutes in advance of Coordinated Universal Time. (UTC)