View source for British Ceylon

{{Short description|British Crown colony (1796–1948); now Sri Lanka}}
{{EngvarB |date = August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates |date = August 2014}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = 
| conventional_long_name = British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies<br>{{small|{{nobold|(1802–1833)}}}}<hr />Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies<br>{{small|{{nobold|(1833–1931)}}}}<hr />Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies<br>{{small|{{nobold|(1931–1948)}}}}
| common_name            = Ceylon
| era                    = British Ceylon period
| status                 = * [[Company rule in India|Company rule]]<br>{{small|([[Invasion of Ceylon (1795)|1795/96]] – 12 October 1798)}}{{Efn|Administration based in India; a jurisdiction distinct from India}}
* [[Crown colony|Crown]] & [[Company rule in India|Company]] dual control<br>{{small|(12 October 1798 – 1 January 1802)}}{{Efn|Administration based in India; a jurisdiction distinct from India}}
* [[Crown Colony]] of the [[United Kingdom]]<br>{{small|([[Treaty of Amiens|25 March 1802]] – 4 February 1948)}}
| empire                 = British Empire
| government_type        = Monarchy
| year_start             = 1796
| year_end               = 1948
| year_exile_start       = 
| year_exile_end         = 
| event_start            = [[Invasion of Ceylon|Capture of Dutch Ceylon]]
| date_start             = 5 March
| event_end              = [[Sri Lankan independence movement|Independence]]
| date_end               = 4 February
| event1                 = Establishment of dual administration
| date_event1            = 12 October 1798
| event2                 = [[Treaty of Amiens|Proclamation of the Crown Colony]]
| date_event2            = 25 March 1802
| event3                 = [[Kandyan Convention|Signing of Kandyan Convention]]
| date_event3            = 2 March 1815
| event4                 = 
| date_event4            = 
| event_pre              = 
| date_pre               = 
| event_post             = 
| date_post              = 
| p1                     = Kingdom of Kandy
| flag_p1                = King of Kandy.svg
| image_p1               = 
| p2                     = Dutch Ceylon
| flag_p2                = Flag of the Dutch East India Company.svg
| image_p2               = 
| p3                     = Vanni chieftaincies
| flag_p3                = Flag_of_Pandara_Vanniyan.PNG
| image_p3               = 
| s1                     = Dominion of Ceylon
| flag_s1                = Flag of Ceylon.svg
| image_s1               = 
| image_flag             = Flag of Ceylon (1875–1948).svg
| flag                   = Flag of British Ceylon
| flag_type              = 
| image_coat             = Badge of Ceylon (1875–1948).svg
| symbol                 = Coat of arms of Sri Lanka
| image_map              = Sri Lanka (orthographic projection).svg
| image_map_caption      = 
| image_map2             = Ceylon (ca 1914).jpg<!-- If second map is needed – does not appear by default -->
| image_map2_caption     = British Ceylon map, published in [[Leipzig]], {{c.|1914}}
| capital                = [[Colombo]]
| capital_exile          = 
| latd                   = 
| latm                   = 
| latNS                  = 
| longd                  = 
| longm                  = 
| longEW                 = 
| national_motto         = 
| national_anthem        = [[God Save the King]] (1796–1837; 1901–1948)<br/>[[God Save the King|God Save the Queen]] (1837–1901){{parabr}}{{center|[[File:United States Navy Band - God Save the Queen.oga]]}}
| common_languages       = {{plainlist|
*[[English language|English]] (official)
*[[Sinhala language|Sinhala]]
*[[Tamil language|Tamil]]}}
| religion               = 
| currency               = {{plainlist|
*[[Ceylonese rixdollar]] <small>(1815–28)</small>
*[[British pound]] <small>(1825–71)</small>
*[[Sri Lankan rupee|Ceylonese rupee]] <small>(1872–1948)</small>}}
| leader1                = [[George III]] {{small|(first)}}
| year_leader1           = 1815–1820
| leader2                = [[George IV]]
| year_leader2           = 1820–1830
| leader3                = [[William IV]]
| year_leader3           = 1830–1837
| leader4                = [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]]
| year_leader4           = 1837–1901
| leader5                = [[Edward VII]]
| year_leader5           = 1901–1910
| leader6                = [[George V]]
| year_leader6           = 1910–1936
| leader7                = [[Edward VIII]]
| year_leader7           = 1936
| leader8                = [[George VI]] {{small|(last)}}
| year_leader8           = 1936–1948
| title_leader           = [[Monarchy of the United Kingdom|Monarch]]
| representative1        = [[Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford|Frederick North]] {{small|(first)}}
| representative2        = [[Henry Monck-Mason Moore|Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore]] {{small|(last)}}
| year_representative1   = 1798–1805
| year_representative2   = 1944–1948
| title_representative   = [[Governors of British Ceylon|Governor]]
| deputy1                = [[D. S. Senanayake|Don Stephen Senanayake]]
| year_deputy1           = 1947–1948
| title_deputy           = [[Prime Minister of Sri Lanka|Prime Minister]]
| legislature            = {{plainlist|
*[[Legislative Council of Ceylon|Legislative Council]] <small>(1833–1931)</small>
*[[State Council of Ceylon|State Council]] <small>(1931–47)</small>
*[[Parliament of Ceylon|Parliament]] <small>(1947–48)</small>}}
| house1                 = 
| type_house1            = 
| house2                 = 
| type_house2            = 
| stat_year1             = 1827
| stat_area1             = 
| stat_pop1              = 889,584{{Efn|Non scientific census of the whole island.}}
| ref_area1              = 
| ref_pop1               = <ref name=cicred>{{cite book|title=The Population of Sri Lanka|date=1974|publisher=C.I.C.R.E.D. Series|location=Population Growth|pages=3–4|url=http://www.cicred.org/Eng/Publications/pdf/c-c46.pdf|access-date=2 August 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701070027/http://www.cicred.org/Eng/Publications/pdf/c-c46.pdf|archive-date=1 July 2014}}</ref>
| stat_year2             = 1901
| stat_area2             = 
| stat_pop2              = 3,565,954
| ref_area2              = 
| ref_pop2               = <ref name="cicred" />
| stat_year3             = 1946
| stat_area3             = {{convert|25,480|mi2|km2|0|disp=number}}
| stat_pop3              = 6,657,339
| ref_area3              = <ref name=TheEmpirein1924>{{cite web|title=The British Empire in 1924|url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/colonies1924.htm|website=The British Empire|access-date=7 November 2017}}</ref>
| ref_pop3               = <ref name="cicred" />
| today                  = [[Sri Lanka]]
}}
{{Sri Lankan former states}}

'''British Ceylon''' ({{langx|si|බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව|Britānya Langkāwa}}; {{langx|ta|பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை|Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai}}), officially '''British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies''' from 1802 to 1833,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sri Lanka |url=https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Sri_Lanka.html |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=www.worldstatesmen.org}}</ref> then the '''Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies''' from 1833 to 1931<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sri Lanka |url=https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Sri_Lanka.html |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=www.worldstatesmen.org}}</ref> and finally the '''Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies''' from 1931 to 1948,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sri Lanka |url=https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Sri_Lanka.html |access-date=2023-01-17 |website=www.worldstatesmen.org}}</ref> was the [[British Empire|British]] [[Crown colony]] of present-day [[Sri Lanka]] between 1796 and 4 February 1948. Initially, the area it covered did not include the [[Kingdom of Kandy]], which was a protectorate,{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} but from 1817 to 1948 the [[British possessions]] included the whole island of Ceylon, now the nation of [[Sri Lanka]].

The '''British Ceylon period''' is the history of Sri Lanka between 1815 and 1948. It follows the fall of the [[Kingdom of Kandy|Kandyan Kingdom]] into the hands of the British Empire.<ref name=serendib>{{cite web|url=http://serendib.btoptions.lk/article.php?id=1858&issue=80 |title=King Sri wickrama rajasinghe: Sri Lanka's last monarch |date=August 2016 |access-date=September 29, 2019}}</ref> It ended over 2300 years of Sinhalese monarchy rule on the island.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~lkawgw/kandycon.html|title=The 1815 Kandyan Convention at the Audience Hall|website=Rootsweb.ancestry.com|access-date=8 October 2017}}</ref> The British rule on the island lasted until 1948 when the country regained [[Sri Lankan independence movement|independence]] following the [[Sri Lankan independence movement]].

==Context==
Periodization of Sri Lanka history:
{{Sri Lankan history overview}}

==History==
The first Europeans to visit Ceylon in modern times were the [[Portugal|Portuguese]]: [[Lourenço de Almeida]] arrived in 1505, finding the island divided into seven warring kingdoms and unable to fend off intruders. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of [[Colombo]] in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas. In 1592 the Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of [[Kandy]], a location more secure against attack from invaders. Intermittent warfare continued through the 16th century. Many [[Upland and lowland|Lowland Ceylonese]] were forced to convert to [[Christianity]] while the coastal [[Sri Lankan Moors|Moors]] were religiously persecuted and forced to retreat to the [[Central Province, Sri Lanka|Central highlands]] while some of them desired to leave the country. The Buddhist majority disliked Portuguese occupation and its influences and welcomed any power who might rescue them and defeat the Portuguese. In 1602, therefore, when the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] captain [[Joris van Spilbergen]] landed, the king of Kandy appealed to him for help.

In 1669, the British sea captain [[Robert Knox (sailor)|Robert Knox]] landed by chance on Ceylon and was captured by the [[List of Kandyan monarchs|king of Kandy]]. He escaped 19 years later and wrote an account of his stay. This helped to bring the island to the attention of the British.

===Dutch Ceylon===
{{main|Dutch Ceylon|Invasion of Ceylon (1795)}}
The island attracted the attention of the newly formed [[Dutch Republic]] when they were invited by the Sinhalese King to fight the Portuguese. It was in 1639 that the Dutch attacked in earnest but ended with an agreement (which was disrespected by both parties), and not until 1656 that Colombo fell. By 1660 the Dutch controlled the whole island except the kingdom of Kandy. The Dutch (who were Protestants) persecuted the Catholics (the left-over Portuguese settlers) but left the Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. However, they taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done. A mixed Dutch-Sri Lankan people known as [[Burgher people]] are the legacy of Dutch rule.

In the late 18th century the Dutch, weakened by their wars against [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], were conquered by [[Napoleonic era|Napoleonic France]], and their leaders became refugees in London.  No longer able to govern their part of the island effectively, the Dutch transferred the rule of it to the British, although this was against the wishes of the Dutch residing there. The capture of the island immediately yielded £300,000 of money in goods, as well as the acquisition of the [[cinnamon]] plantations, making this a valuable venture.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Christie |first1=Nikki |title=Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914 |date=2016 |publisher=Pearson |pages=53}}</ref>

===Kandyan Wars===
{{Main|Kandyan Wars}}
In 1803, as soon as Great Britain gained the European-controlled parts of Ceylon from the Dutch, they wanted to expand their new sphere of influence by making the native [[Kingdom of Kandy]] a protectorate, an offer initially refused by the King of Kandy. Although the previous Dutch administration had not been powerful enough to threaten the reign of the Kandyan Kings, the British were much more powerful. The Kandyan refusal to accept a protectorate led eventually (1803) to the 1st [[Kandyan Wars|Kandyan War]], but was  repulsed. In 1815 Kandy was captured in the [[Kandyan Wars|Second Kandyan War]], ending Ceylonese independence.

===Kandyan Convention===
{{Main|Kandyan Convention}}
The rule of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe was not favoured by his chieftains. The king, who was of South Indian ancestry, faced powerful chieftains and sought cruel measures to repress their popularity with the people. A successful coup was organised by the Sinhala chiefs in which they accepted the British Crown as their new sovereign. This ended the line of the kingdom of Kandy and King Rajasinghe was taken as a prisoner, ending his hope that the British would allow him to retain power. The Kandyan treaty which was signed in 1815 was called the [[Kandyan Convention]] and stated the terms under which the Kandyans would live as a British protectorate. The Buddhist religion was to be given protection by [[the Crown]], and Christianity would not be imposed on the population, as had happened during Portuguese and Dutch rule. The Kandyan Convention is an important legal document because it specifies the conditions which the British promised for the Kandyan territory.

===The Uva Rebellion===
{{Main|Uva Rebellion}}
It took the ruling families of Kandy less than two years to realise that the authority of the British government was a fundamentally different one to that of the (deposed) Nayakkar dynasty. Soon the Kandyans rebelled against the British and waged a guerrilla war. Discontent with British activities soon boiled over into open rebellion, commencing in the duchy of Uva in 1817, so-called the [[Uva Rebellion]], also known as the Third Kandyan War. The main cause of the rebellion was the British authorities' failure to protect and uphold the customary Buddhist traditions, which were viewed by the islanders as an integral part of their lives.<ref>[http://nation.lk/online/2015/09/05/lessons-on-british-decency.html Lessons on British 'decency'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517183144/https://nation.lk/online/2015/09/05/lessons-on-british-decency.html |date=17 May 2022 }}, The Nation</ref><ref>[http://www.lankalibrary.com/geo/keppetipola2.htm Keppetipola and the Uva The Great Liberation War] Virtual Library Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2007-10-01.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lankalibrary.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2910|title= Uva Wellassa The Great Liberation War: 1817–1818|access-date=23 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.southasianmedia.net/cnn.cfm?id=599218&category=Politics&Country=SRI%20LANKA |title=Wellassa riots in 1818 |access-date=2009-08-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107164855/http://www.southasianmedia.net/cnn.cfm?id=599218&category=Politics&Country=SRI%20LANKA |archive-date=2017-11-07 |url-status=usurped }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sundaytimes.lk/080203/KandyTimes/kandytimes_0027.html|title=Torture tree of the British Army|access-date=23 October 2014}}</ref>

The rebellion, which soon developed into a [[guerrilla war]] of the kind the Kandyans had fought against European powers for centuries, was centred on the Kandyan nobility and their unhappiness with developments under British rule since 1815. However it was the last uprising of this kind and in the [[Uva Province]] a [[scorched earth policy]] was pursued, and all males between 15 and 60 years were driven out, exiled and killed. More than 10,000 Sinhalese were killed by British in the rebellion. The [[The Crown|British Crown]] annexed the Kingdom of Kandy to British Ceylon in 1817.<ref>{{cite news |last = Müller |first = J. B. |title = Anglophiles, Eurocentric arrogance and Reality |url = http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=10607 |newspaper = [[The Island (Sri Lanka)|The Island]] |date = 6 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last = Keerthisinghe |first = Lakshman I. |url = http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/172-opinion/28002-the-british-duplicity-in-protecting-human-rights-in-sri-lanka.html |title = The British duplicity in protecting human rights in Sri Lanka |work = [[Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)|Daily Mirror]] |year = 2013 |access-date = 21 October 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131021114438/http://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/172-opinion/28002-the-british-duplicity-in-protecting-human-rights-in-sri-lanka.html |archive-date = 21 October 2013 |url-status = dead }}</ref>

===British rule===
[[Image:Kandyan Chiefs in 1905.JPG|right|thumb|A group of British appointed Kandyan chiefs, with John Penry Lewis, Government Agent, Central Province in 1905]]
Following the suppression of the [[Uva Rebellion]], the Kandyan peasantry was stripped of their lands by the Crown Lands (Encroachments) Ordinance No. 12 of 1840 (sometimes called the Crown Lands Ordinance or the Waste Lands Ordinance),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellman |first1=A.O. |last2=Ratnaweera |first2=D. De S. |last3=Silva |first3=K.T. |last4=Wickremasinghe |first4=G. |title=Land Settlement in Sri Lanka 1840-1975: A Review of the Major Writings on the Subject |date=January 1976 |publisher=Agrarian Research and Training Institute |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka |page=16 |url=http://dl.nsf.ac.lk/ohs/harti/22796.pdf |access-date=20 December 2019 |archive-date=27 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827160412/http://dl.nsf.ac.lk/ohs/harti/22796.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> a modern [[enclosure]] movement and reduced to penury. The British found that the uplands of Sri Lanka were very suited to [[coffee]], [[tea]] and [[rubber]] cultivation, and by the mid-19th century Ceylon tea had become a staple of the British market, bringing great wealth to a small class of European tea planters. To work the estates, the planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as [[Indentured servitude|indentured labourer]]s from south India, who soon made up 10% of the island's population. These workers lived in harsh conditions and were accommodated in [[line rooms]], not very different from cattle sheds.

The British colonial government favoured the semi-European Burghers, certain high-[[caste]] Sinhalese and the Tamils who were mainly concentrated to the north of the country while ignoring the other ethnic groups on the island. Nevertheless, the British also introduced democratic elements to Sri Lanka for the first time in its history. The Burghers were given some degree of self-government as early as 1833. It was not until 1909 that constitutional development began with a partly elected assembly, and not until 1920 that elected members outnumbered official appointees. [[Universal suffrage]] was introduced in 1931, over the protests of the Sinhalese, Tamil and Burgher elite who objected to the common people being allowed to vote.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dawn.com/events/millennium/12.htm |access-date=2009-09-19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crisisstates.com/download/seminars/Spencer.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327122156/http://www.crisisstates.com/download/seminars/Spencer.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-27}}</ref>

===Development===
[[Sujit Sivasundaram|Sivasundaram]] argues, reinforcing the analysis first made by famed local historian, G.C. Mendis in his book, ''Ceylon Under the British'', that the British used geographical knowledge to defeat the Kandyan holdouts in the mountainous and jungle areas in the centre of Ceylon. They used local informants and British surveyors to map the island, and then built a network of roads to open the central region. This made possible export production of plantation agriculture, as well as tighter military control.<ref>[[Sujit Sivasundaram]], "Tales of the Land: British Geography and Kandyan Resistance in Sri Lanka, {{c.|1803–1850}}", ''Modern Asian Studies'' (2007) 41#5 pp. 925–965.</ref>

With its trading ports of Trincomalee and Colombo, the colony was one of the very few sources of cinnamon in the world. The spice was extremely valuable, and the British [[East India Company]] began to cultivate it in 1767, but Ceylon remained the main producer until the end of the 18th century<ref>{{cite book |last1=Christie |first1=Nikki |title=Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914 |date=2016 |publisher=Pearson}}</ref>

The laying of the railway was carried out during the Governorship of [[Henry George Ward|Sir Henry Ward]]. Other major works of the British include road-building projects and the establishment of coffee and tea plantations, hospitals, and maternity homes.

===Independence movement===
{{main|Sri Lankan independence movement}}
The [[Ceylon National Congress]] (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy. The party soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Prof. K. M. de Silva, the famous [[Peradeniya]] historian has pointed out that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status to be one of the main causes which broke up the CNC.<ref name ="UCHC">K. M. de Silva, University of Ceylon History of Ceylon, p. 225</ref> The CNC did not seek independence or "Swaraj". What may be called the independence movement broke into two streams, viz., the "constitutionalists", who sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon, and the more radical groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of Swaraj, or outright independence, following the Indian example, when [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Sarojini Naidu]] and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926.<ref name="jane">Dr. Jane Russell, Communal Politics under the Donoughmore constitution. Tisara Prakasakyo, Dehivala, 1982</ref> The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the [[Donoughmore Commission]] reforms (1931) and the [[Soulbury Commission]] recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by [[D. S. Senanayake]].<ref name="UCHC" /><ref name="jane" /> The Marxist [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]] (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/features/20020104edmund_samarakkody.htm|title=Edmund Samarakkody kept faith to the last|website=Priu.gov.lk|access-date=8 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210153805/http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/features/20020104edmund_samarakkody.htm|archive-date=10 December 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> Its deputies in the State Council, [[N.M. Perera]] and [[Philip Gunawardena]], were aided in this struggle by [[Colvin R. de Silva]], [[Leslie Goonewardena|Leslie Goonewardene]], [[Vivienne Goonewardena|Vivienne Goonewardene]], [[Edmund Samarakkody]] and [[K. Natesa Iyer]]. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with grave suspicion by the British administration. The concerted (but ineffective) attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office.

The [[Soulbury Commission]] was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil leadership had by then fallen into the hands of [[G. G. Ponnambalam]] who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity".<ref>''[[Hansard]]'', 1935</ref> Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian", and attempted to establish an independent identity for the Tamils {{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}. Ponnamblam was a politician who attacked the Sinhalese, and their historical chronicle known as the [[Mahavamsa]]. One such inflamed attack in Navalapitiya led to the first Sinhala-Tamil riot in 1939.<ref name="jane"/><ref>''Hindu Organ'', November 1, 1939</ref> Ponnambalam opposed [[universal franchise]], supported the [[caste system]]. This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hallmark of Tamil politics of the time {{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}. Ponnambalam also accused the D. S. Senanayake government of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the Buddhist temporalities act. The [[Soulbury Commission]] rejected these submissions by Ponnambalam, and even noted their unacceptable communal character. Sinhalese writers pointed out the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centres, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway {{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}. Meanwhile, Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the Soulbury Commission without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.<ref name="jane"/>

The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Louis Mountbatten]]. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.

===Second World War===
{{main|Ceylon in World War II}}
[[File:Admiral Sir James Somerville, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet, inspecting Wrens in Colombo, Ceylon, 17 July 1944. A24959.jpg|thumb|Admiral Sir [[James Somerville]] inspecting a detachment of [[Women's Royal Naval Service|Wrens]] serving with the [[East Indies Fleet]] in Colombo, July 1944]]
[[File:RAF groundcrew and local Singhalese lowering a Consolidated Catalina of No. 240 Squadron RAF into the water at Red Hills Lake, Ceylon, after undergoing repairs, 4 August 1945. CI876.jpg|thumb|[[Royal Air Force|RAF]] crew and local Sinhalese in August 1945]]
During World War II, Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese. Opposition to the war in Sri Lanka was orchestrated by Marxist organizations. The leaders of the LSSP pro-independence agitation were arrested by the Colonial authorities. On 5 April 1942, the [[Imperial Japanese Navy|Japanese Navy]] bombed Colombo, which led to the flight of Indian merchants, dominant in the Colombo commercial sector. This flight removed a major political problem facing the Senanayake government.<ref name="jane" /> Marxist leaders also escaped, to India, where they participated in the independence struggle there. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centres. These groups were led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In stark contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective approach to the war, the Senanayake government took advantage of the war to further its rapport with the commanding elite. Ceylon became crucial to the British Empire in the war, with [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Louis Mountbatten]] using Colombo as his headquarters for the Eastern Theater. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. Nonetheless, Sinhalese continued to agitate for independence and Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war to establish a special relationship with Britain.

Meanwhile, the Marxists, identifying the war as a sideshow between rival empires and desiring a [[proletarian revolution]], chose a path of agitation disproportionate to their negligible combat strength and diametrically opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach of Senanayake and other Ethnic Sinhalese leaders. A small garrison on the [[Cocos Islands]], crewed by Ceylonese, attempted to [[Cocos Islands mutiny|expel the British]]. It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Three of the participants were the only British Subject Peoples to be shot for "mutiny" during World War II.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j34/cocosmutiny.htm |title=Journal |access-date=2016-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010911184409/https://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j34/cocosmutiny.htm |archive-date=2001-09-11}}</ref>

Sri Lankans in [[Singapore]] and [[Malaysia]] formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the [[Indian National Army]].

The constitutionalists, led by D. S. Senanayake, (the first prime minister) succeeded in winning independence. The Soulbury constitution was essentially what Senanayake's board of ministers had drafted in 1944. The promise of Dominion status, and independence itself, had been given by the Colonial office.

===Post-war===
The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were more subtle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ13Df01.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011107180747/http://atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ13Df01.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=7 November 2001|title=Asia Times: SRI LANKA: THE UNTOLD STORY|website=Atimes.com|access-date=8 October 2017}}</ref> He subsequently formed the [[United National Party]] (UNP) in 1946,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/68.htm|title=Sri Lanka - Sinhalese Parties|website=Countrystudies.us|access-date=8 October 2017}}</ref> when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury Commission. At the elections of 1947, the UNP won a minority of the seats in Parliament but formed a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. The successful inclusions of the Tamil-communalist leader Ponnambalam, and his Sinhala counterpart Bandaranaike were a remarkable political balancing act by Senanayake. However, the vacuum in Tamil Nationalist politics created by Ponnamblam's transition to a moderate opened the field for the Tamil Arasu Kachchi, a Tamil sovereignist party (rendered into English as the "Federal" party) led by S. J. V. Chelvanaykam, the lawyer son of a Christian minister.

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Sri Lanka}}
{{See also|Burgher people}}

{{Historical populations
|type =
|footnote = Source: Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka
|1871 | 2400380
|1881 | 2759700
|1891 | 3007800
|1901 | 3566000
|1911 | 4106400
|1921 | 4498600
|1931 | 5306000
|1946 | 6657300
}}

The multiracial population of Ceylon was numerous enough to support the European colonists; the Portuguese and the Dutch offspring of the past 440 odd years of colonial history was large enough to run a stable government. Unlike the previous rulers, the British embarked on a plantation programme which initially brought coffee plantations to the island. These were later wiped out by [[coffee rust]]. Coffee plants were replaced by tea and rubber plantations. This made Ceylon one of the richest countries in Asia.

The British also brought Tamils from [[British Raj|British India]] and made them indentured labourers in the Hill Country. This was in addition to the several hundred thousand Tamils already living in the Maritime provinces and another 30,000 [[Tamil Muslims]]. The linguistically bipolar island needed a link language and English became universal in Ceylon.<ref>{{cite web |title = THE POPULATION I OF SRI LANKA |url = http://www.cicred.org/Eng/Publications/pdf/c-c46.pdf |publisher = CI.CR.É.D. Series |access-date = 31 January 2012}}</ref>

Censuses in Ceylon began in 1871 and continued every ten years. The 1881 census shows a total population of 2.8 million, consisting of 1.8 million Sinhalese; 687,000 Ceylon and Indian Tamils; 185,000 Moors; as well as 4,800 Europeans; 17,900 Burghers and Eurasians; 8,900 Malays; 2,200 Veddhas; and 7,500 other.<ref>{{cite web |title = THE POPULATION I OF SRI LANKA |url = http://www.cicred.org/Eng/Publications/pdf/c-c46.pdf |publisher = CI.CR.É.D. Series |access-date = 31 January 2012}}</ref>

The Censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 had shown [[Ceylon Tamils]] and [[Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka]] grouped together. By 1911 Indian Tamils were shown as a separate category. The population statistics reveal that by 1911, Indian Tamils constituted 12.9%, whereas Sri Lankan Tamils formed 12.8% of the population of 4,106,400; in 1921, 13.4% and 11.5%; in 1931, 15.2% and 11.3%, and in 1946, 11.7% and 11.0% respectively. The censuses show that during a large period of time in the history of Ceylon, Indian Tamils outnumbered Ceylon Tamils until between 1971 and 1981 when more than 50 per cent of the Indian Tamil population were repatriated as Indian citizens back to India. However, many Indian Tamils were also granted Sri Lankan citizenship whereupon declared themselves as Sri Lankan Tamils.<ref>{{cite web|last=SURYANARAYAN|first=V.|title=In search of a new identity|url=http://www.flonnet.com/fl1816/18160950.htm|publisher=Frontline|access-date=31 January 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529221016/http://www.flonnet.com/fl1816/18160950.htm|archive-date=29 May 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Government and military==
===British Governors of Ceylon===
{{Main|British governors of Ceylon|Executive Council of Ceylon}}
[[File:Sir Edward Barnes by William Salter.jpg|thumb|upright|Sir [[Edward Barnes (British Army officer)|Edward Barnes]] was Governor of Ceylon from 1824 to 1831]]
Between 1796 and 1948, Ceylon was a British Crown colony. Although the British monarch was the head of state, in practice his or her functions were exercised in the colony by the colonial Governor, who acted on instructions from the British government in London.

On the approach to self-government and independence, the [[Donoughmore Commission]] recommended the [[Donoughmore Constitution]] of 1931–1947, one of a series of attempts to create a workable solution that would allow for inter-communal differences. This was replaced by the [[Soulbury Commission]] proposals that led to the [[Dominion#Ceylon|Dominion of Ceylon]] of 1948–1972, after which the Free, Sovereign and the Independent Republic of [[Sri Lanka]] was established.

=== Armed forces ===
{{Main|Ceylon Defence Force}}
{{See also|Ceylon in World War II}}

The [[Ceylon Defence Force]] (CDF) was the military of British Ceylon. Established in 1881 as the Ceylon Volunteers, as the military reserve in the British Crown colony of Ceylon, by 1910 it grew into the Ceylon Defence Force, a regular force responsible for the defence of Ceylon. The CDF was under the command of the [[General Officer Commanding, Ceylon]], of the [[British Army]] in Ceylon if mobilised. However, mobilisation could be carried out only under orders from the [[British governors of Ceylon|Governor]]. The Ceylon Defence Force has seen action in a number of wars such as the [[Second Boer War]] and both [[World Wars]]. It is the predecessor to the [[Ceylon Army]].<ref>{{cite web |last = van Langenberg |first = Cyril |title = The Volunteer Force |url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/24687123/The-Ceylon-Volunteer-Force |publisher = The Ceylon Army Journal Volume |access-date = 31 January 2012}}</ref>

[[Trincomalee Harbour]] was an important strategic base for the British [[Royal Navy]] until 1948, primarily to control the sea lanes of the [[Indian Ocean]].

==See also==
{{Portal|British Empire|Sri Lanka}}
* [[Portuguese Ceylon]]
* [[Dutch Ceylon]]
* [[History of Sri Lanka]]
* [[1906 malaria outbreak in Ceylon]]
* [[1934-35 malaria outbreak in Ceylon]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist|2}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Arsecularatne, S. N, ''Sinhalese immigrants in Malaysia & Singapore, 1860–1990: History through recollections'', Colombo, KVG de Silva & Sons, 1991
* {{cite book |author = Mills, Lennox A. |title = Ceylon Under British Rule, 1795–1932 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YyHG9ZKl3bwC&pg=PA246 |year=1933 |publisher=Oxford U.P.|isbn = 9780714620190 }}
* {{cite book |author = Malalgoda, Kitsiri |title = Buddhism in Sinhalese Society, 1750–1900: A Study of Religious Revival and Change |url = http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=9780520028739 |year = 1976 |publisher = U. of California Press |access-date = 5 June 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055307/http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=9780520028739 |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all }}
* {{cite book |author = Peebles, Patrick |title = The History of Sri Lanka |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SxO0eISluqEC&pg=PA201 |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood |isbn = 9780313332050 }}
* {{cite book |author = Peebles, Patrick |title = The Plantation Tamils of Ceylon |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EYeoXrsn8lIC&pg=PA208 |year=2001 |publisher=Continuum International|isbn = 9780718501549 }}
* {{cite book |author = Schrikker. Alicia |title = Dutch and British Colonial Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1780–1815: Expansion and Reform |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OnaC26k9KG8C&pg=PA221 |year = 2007 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden|isbn = 9789004156029 }}
* {{cite book |author = Spencer, Jonathan |title = Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=i4b6xmZI_XoC |year= 1990 |publisher = Psychology Press|isbn = 9780203407417 }}
* Silva, K.M. de. ''History of Sri Lanka'' (1982). pp.&nbsp;239–488 [https://web.archive.org/web/20160129124138/http://www.ucpress.edu/op.php?isbn=9780520043206 complete text online free]
* {{cite journal |title = Ethnicity, Indigeneity, and Migration in the Advent of British Rule to Sri Lanka |last = Sivasundaram |first = Sujit |author-link1= Sujit Sivasundaram |journal = [[The American Historical Review]] |volume = 115 |issue = 2 |year = 2010 |pages = 428–52 |doi = 10.1086/ahr.115.2.428|doi-access = free }}
* {{cite journal |title = Tales of the Land: British Geography and Kandyan Resistance in Sri Lanka, c. 1803-1850 |last = Sivasundaram |first = Sujit |author-link1= Sujit Sivasundaram |journal = [[Modern Asian Studies]] |publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] |issn = 1469-8099 |volume = 41 |issue = 5 |year = 2007 |pages = 925–65 |doi = 10.1017/S0026749X06002642 |doi-broken-date = 19 December 2024 |jstor = 4499807 |s2cid = 128631455 |url = http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/21723/1/Tales_of_the_land-British_geography_and_Kandyan_resistance_in_Sri_Lanka__c_1803-1850.pdf}}
* {{cite book |author = Wenzlhuemer, Roland |title = From Coffee to Tea Cultivation in Ceylon, 1880–1900: An Economic and Social History |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QauF4DDEJ20C&pg=PA80 |year=2008 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden|isbn = 978-9004163614 }}
* Wenzlhuemer, Roland. "Indian Labour Immigration and British Labour Policy in Nineteenth-Century Ceylon," ''Modern Asian Studies'' (2007) 41:575–602
* {{cite book |author = Wickramasinghe, Nira |title = Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Indentities |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-xQ8qk9mgYC&pg=PA170 |year = 2006 |publisher = University of Hawaii Press|isbn = 9780824830168 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Littell's Living Age/Volume 146/Issue 1881/The Backwoods of Ceylon|an account of economic developments in rural Ceylon under British rule}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190816173536/http://www.divaina.com/2009/10/28/feature02.html තුඩපත් මඟින් හෙළිවන සිංහල උරුමය]

{{Sri Lanka topics}}
{{British Ceylon period topics}}
{{British overseas territories}}
{{History of Asia}}

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[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1948]]
[[Category:Former British colonies and protectorates in Asia]]
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[[Category:1948 disestablishments in Ceylon]]