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Geography & Climate
Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean, located
to the south of Indian Subcontinent. Sprawling over
the area of 65, 610 square kilometers, Sri Lanka
with its tear-dropped shape is dominated by the
astonishingly varied features of topography. Three
zones can be divided by its distinguished elevation:
the Central Highland, the plains, and the coastal
belt.
People of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is the land of multi-ethnic groups
distinctively divided by two main characteristics:
language and religion which consequently intersect
to create four principal ethnic groups.
Society of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan society is multi-ethnic and
multi-religious since the pre-historic times; each
group is mainly characterized by their religions.
The majority ethnic group is the Sinhalese who
practice Buddhism. The second-largest group is the
Tamils who are adherent to Hinduism.
Religion in Sri Lanka
As Sri Lankan population is composed with
multi-ethnic group, the religion in Sri Lanka is
inevitably diverse. Various communities in Sri Lanka
recognize four of the world's major religions:
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.
Government
It can be said that Sri Lanka parliamentary
democratic system was benefited by the establishment
of the Colonial Office during the British Rule from
the 18th century to the 20th century. When the
country achieved the independence in 1948, it
established a parliamentary system modeled on that
of Britain.
Economy of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has enjoyed both subsistence and
commercial agriculture for centuries. Most of
agricultural products were exchanged in trades with
India, its closest neighboring country and European
countries when the Portuguese and the Dutch
dominated the maritime trade those times.
Language
Since Sri Lanka endows a diversity of ethnic groups,
language spoken in the country is various. The two
major ones widely used are, however, Sinhala
language spoken by the Sinhalese majority and Tamil
language used by the Tamils.
Arts
Owing to its long, rich history, Sri Lanka endows
exquisite arts evolving through the course of time
which has refined its culture to be unique and
precious heritage of the nation. Sri Lanka. Its
pivotal position on the ancient Silk Route made Sri
Lanka a crossroad of cultural and trade exchange of
the West and the East.
Festivals
Sri Lanka is one of the countries that are never
free form lively festival a whole year round.
Visitors will have an exceptional experience for
witness its bright and colorful tradition of Sri
Lanka if they stumble on the festive period. Most
festivals in Sri Lanka are related to religion and
depend on the lunar calendar.
Cuisine
Rice and curry, boiled rice with curried vegetable,
shaped with spices is the typical Sri Lankan food.
It can be served as lunch and dinner or sometimes as
breakfast as well. Sri Lankan curries are usually
hot and spicy, but demands for softening its taste
can be done to cater tourists' palates, especially
the Westerners.
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