SRI LANKA & STUFF
Page 3
My father went a several times to Sri Lanka (also known as the "Pearl of the Orient") with his brother. In 1980 he met a nice woman and married her, my mother.
After that year they (with me of course) are going to the island nearly every year. Especially to visit family and friends.
Sri Lanka - an island in the north part of the Indian ocean, south of India - is a republic and has a population of 18.1 million people. The capital city is Colombo. The area of land is 65.606 square kilometres, that's the size of Holland and Belgium together. The languages which are spoken are Sinhalese, English and Tamil. The main language is Sinhalese, and is spoken by 70 % of the population.
Ceylon was a colony of Portugal from 1505 till 1658, after that, the Dutch became the rulers of the island from 1658 till 1802. When the Dutch went home, the Englishmen came and were the boss till 1948, when Ceylon became independent.
In that year, Ceylon got a own parlement, an independent prime-minister and a own flag with the legendary lion. In 1972 the name Ceylon was changed in Sri Lanka, meaning "beautiful island".
The Dutch influence still remembers in several things. Canals, town-walls, fortresses with names like Delft, Leiden and Utrecht; cemetary's with Dutch familynames; typical Dutch tiles and churches; Dutch architecture etc. In the main language (Sinhalese) there are some Dutch words (a couple of them maybe not recognizable).
Since 1983 there is a war going on in the country. Tamil guerilla's of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) are fighting the government troops for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east. More than 55 thousand people have been killed since the war started.
There have been many bomb-blasts in the capital city. In 1993 the president of that time was killed in a suicide attack.
In december 1999 there was an attack on President Chandrika Kumaratunga which failed. But the suicide-bomber came close enough to wound her.
Click here for the CNN coverage of the war.
Information about travel, sports, education, culture etcetera in Sri Lanka
Listen to the English-spoken radiochannel. Only populair music!
The national newspaper of Sri Lanka, it keeps you updated about the newsstory's of the island.
Homepage of Sri Lanka's national carrier SriLankan Airlines.
The map of Sri Lanka. At the westcoast is situated the capital city Colombo. Kandy, the second city, you can find in the middle of the country. At the southcoast you see Galle, there's a big Dutch fort.
Dangerous places places are situated in the area between Trincomalee (eastcoast) till Jaffna (in the north.
Main - Here it all starts...
Page 1 - The personal page, stuff about me and pics.
Page 2 - The page about my sport tabletennis.
Page 3 - This page is dedicated to island Sri Lanka.
Page 4 - Friendz, here many pics can be found.
Page 5 - The page with some of my favourite links.
Page 6 - View and sign my guestbook...
U R here----->