Prehistory & Early Arrivals
Sri Lanka’s history is a source of great pride to both Sinhalese and Tam-
ils, the country’s two largest ethnic groups. The only problem is, they
have two completely different versions. Every historical site, religious
structure, even village name, seems to have conflicting stories about its
origin, and those stories are, in turn, blended over time with contrast-
ing religious myths and local legends. The end results are often used as
evidence that the island is one group’s exclusive homeland; each claims
first dibs.
Did the Buddha leave his footprint on Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada) while
visiting the island that lay halfway to paradise? Or was it Adam who left
his footprint embedded in the rock while taking a last look at Eden? Was
the chain of islands linking Sri Lanka to India the same chain that Rama
crossed to rescue his wife Sita from the clutches of Rawana, demon king
of Lanka, in the epic Ramayana?
Whatever the legends, the reality is that Sri Lanka’s original inhab-
itants, the Veddahs (or, as they refer to themselves, Wanniyala-aetto:
‘forest dwellers’), were hunter-gatherers who subsisted on the island’s
natural bounty. Much about their origins is unclear, but anthropologists
generally believe that they are descended from people who migrated
from India, and possibly Southeast Asia, and existed on the island as far
back as 32,000 BC. It’s also likely that rising waters submerged a land
bridge between India and Sri Lanka in around 5000 BC.
Historians and archaeologists have differing interpretations of its or-
igins, but a megalithic culture emerged in the centuries around 900 BCPre-6th
century BC
The island is inhabited
by Veddahs
(Wanniyala-aetto), a
group of hunter-
gatherers who
anthropologists believe
were descendants of a
society that existed on
Sri Lanka since
32,000 BC.6th century
BC
Vijaya, a shamed
North Indian prince, is
cast adrift, but makes
landfall on Sri Lanka’s
west coast. He settles
around Anuradhapura
and establishes
the island’s first
recorded kingdom.4th century
BC
India’s first poet pens
the Hindu epic the
Ramayana, in which the
god Rama conquers
Lanka and its
demon-god Rawana.
The sandbars off
Mannar Island are
described as
Rama’s Bridge.The indigenous
Veddahs were
called Yakshas,
or nature spirits,
by the island’s
early arrivals. No
one knows if this
is because the
Veddahs were so
at home in nature
or because they
prayed to their
departed an-
cestors – spirits
known as nae
yaku.©Lonely Planet Publications Pty LtdHistory
Sri Lanka’s location – near India and along hundreds of ancient trade routes – has for
ages made it attractive to immigrants, invaders, missionaries, traders and travellers
from India, East Asia and the Middle East. Many stayed on, and over generations they
assimilated and intermarried, converted and converted back. Although debates still
rage over who was here first and who can claim Sri Lanka as their homeland, the island’s
history, like that of its ethnicities, is one of shifting dominance and constant flux.