British Colonial Influence

• Before gaining independence in 1948, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was ruled by the British, who rewarded the minority Tamil people with a larger share of government jobs over the majority Sinhalese. The Tamil were more likely to speak English and, of no little importance, were more likely to convert to Christianity than were the Buddhist Sinhalese. This had long been a wedge between the two ethnically and linguistically distinct peoples.
  
  

Rise of Nationalism

• The 2,500th anniversary of the death of the Buddha in 1956 was marked by a precipitate rise in the Sinhalese nationalism that had been brewing since the 1930s. The Sinhalese, who made up approximately 70 percent of the country's population, wanted the English language expunged from government and commerce. Prime Minister Bandaranaike's "Sinhala Only" act led to ethnic rioting and the burning of homes and businesses of the increasingly disenfranchised Tamil people.
  
  

The Tamil Tigers

• By the 1970s, Sinhalese had largely eliminated English as Sri Lanka's principal language. Many of the Tamil people, who had been formulating a separate Tamil state since the early 1960s, abandoned the country. But politically inflamed Tamil youth began to form independent militant groups, principally in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Without support of the Tamil leadership in the capital city, Colombo, the groups eventually failed. The exception was the Tamil Tigers, who initiated a campaign of assassination, targeting police officers and politicians.
  
  

War Erupts

• On July 23, 1983, Sinhalese mobs attacked and killed thousands of Tamils after learning of a Tamil Tiger ambush that claimed the lives of 13 Sinhalese army soldiers. Dubbed "Black July," it is generally considered the beginning of open armed conflict. The sides exchange atrocities for the next 26 years until government forces finally gained control over all of Tamil territory and the LTTE subsequently conceded defeat.