Depending on your viewpoint, Sri Lanka's shape resembles either a pearl or a teardrop, cast adrift in the Indian Ocean.

Those who consider this country a teardrop may do so because of its long history of troubles. The first Europeans to arrive in Sri Lanka were the Portuguese, quickly supplanted by the Dutch in the 17th century. The British acquired Sri Lanka (as Ceylon) from the Dutch in 1796, assuming full control in 1802. But once the country became a Republic in 1972, adopting a new constitution along with the Sinhala name, Sri Lanka, serious conflict arose from the Tamil minority’s (occupying the north and east parts of Sri Lanka) demands for a separate Tamil state, with terrorist activity by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam prevalent since the 1970s. The Tamil are Hindu by religion and ethnically linked to the Tamils of southern India, in contrast to the majority (70 per cent) of Sri Lanka's population who are Buddhists of Sinhalese descent.

The Indian government became involved in this conflict, initially as official mediator but then, after the failure of an armistice in 1987, intervening militarily (on the government’s side). Its two-year military campaign ended with the death of over 1000 Indian soldiers and an ignominious retreat. The assassination of Indian premier Rajiv Ghandi in 1991 was the apotheosis of the Tigers’ campaign of revenge. After that, the war entered a period of effective stalemate. Outside the Tiger-controlled areas in the north and east, the political environment was dominated by the struggle between the country’s two main political groupings – the center-right United National Party and the People’s Alliance (a coalition of social-democratic and socialist parties).

In 1995, the UNP’s 17-year stranglehold on power was finally broken by the People’s Alliance, under Chandrikha Kumaratunga. Kumaratunga was determined to resolve the Tamil conflict and a deal between the government and the Tamil Tigers was finally concluded in early 2002. Rising levels of violence have recently put the ceasefire agreement under threat however.

Yet there is also much to champion Sri Lanka as a pearl: Indians, Portuguese, Dutch and British have all left their marks in ancient architecture and palm-fringed beaches are never far away from mountainous greenery in this jewel of an island. Indeed, Marco Polo proclaimed that Sri Lanka was one of the best islands in the world.

Geography
Sri Lanka is an island off the southeast coast of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is separated from India by the Indian Ocean, in which lies the chain of islands called Adam’s Bridge. Sri Lanka has an irregular surface with low-lying coastal plains running inland from the northern and eastern shores. The central and southern areas slope into hills and mountains. The highest peak is Pidurutalagala (2524m/8281ft).