For a quarter of a century Sri Lanka lived through one of Asia’s longest civil wars. It ended in 2009, and the country a traveller finds today is peaceful, unified and welcoming from the southern beaches to the temples of the far north. Understanding what happened, in broad and respectful outline, helps make sense of the island’s recent history and of the reconciliation that is still under way.
A timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1948 | Ceylon gains independence from Britain |
| 1956 | The Sinhala Only Act deepens minority grievances |
| 1972 | A new republican constitution; “Ceylon” becomes “Sri Lanka” |
| 1976 | The LTTE is founded in the north |
| 1983 | ”Black July” riots; the war begins |
| 1987–1990 | Indian Peace Keeping Force deployed in the north-east |
| 2002 | A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire is signed |
| 2004 | The Boxing Day tsunami devastates the coasts |
| 2006 | Full-scale fighting resumes |
| 2009 | The war ends in the north-east in May |
The roots: after independence
Sri Lanka is home to several communities. The Sinhalese, most of them Buddhist, form the large majority; the Tamils, most of them Hindu, are the largest minority, concentrated in the north and east; and there are Muslim and other communities besides. For centuries these groups had lived largely alongside one another, and today they do so again.
When the island, then called Ceylon, became independent from Britain in 1948, the machinery of a single state passed into majority hands. A series of measures over the following decades were felt by many Tamils as a steady narrowing of their place in the nation: the Sinhala Only Act of 1956, which made Sinhala the sole official language; later changes to university admissions; and the constitutional settlements of the 1970s. Peaceful Tamil political campaigning for greater autonomy made little headway, and among a younger generation the demand hardened into a call for a separate state, Tamil Eelam, in the north and east. To understand these communities in their own right, see our pages on the people of Sri Lanka, language and religion.
The war years
Several militant groups emerged, of which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, founded in 1976 and led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, became by far the most powerful. Open war is generally dated from July 1983, when an LTTE ambush killed thirteen soldiers and touched off days of anti-Tamil violence across the country, remembered as Black July. Thousands of Tamils were killed or driven from their homes, and many more left the island altogether, forming the large Tamil diaspora of today.
The conflict that followed was long and came in phases, with intervals of ceasefire and negotiation between spells of heavy fighting. From 1987 to 1990 an Indian Peace Keeping Force was deployed in the north-east, an intervention that ended unhappily for all sides. The LTTE ran a de facto state across parts of the north and east, with its own administration and a fighting force that pioneered tactics, including suicide bombing, that drew worldwide attention. Many governments came to designate the organisation a terrorist group.
The 2002 ceasefire and the tsunami
In February 2002, with Norwegian mediation, the government and the LTTE signed a formal ceasefire, and for a few years the guns fell largely silent. Roads reopened and there was cautious hope.
Then, on the morning of 26 December 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami struck. Waves generated by a massive earthquake off Sumatra swept over Sri Lanka’s southern, eastern and northern coasts, killing around 35,000 people and displacing well over a million. The disaster fell on government-held and LTTE-held areas alike. For a moment it seemed that shared grief might draw the sides together, but disputes over how relief should be shared and controlled deepened mistrust instead. The ceasefire frayed, and by 2006 full-scale fighting had resumed.
The end of the war, 2009
The final phase was intense and concentrated in the north-east. Government forces advanced through LTTE territory over 2008 and into 2009, and the conflict closed in May 2009 among the lagoons and beaches of the north-eastern coast, where Prabhakaran was killed and the LTTE as a fighting force was destroyed.
The last months exacted a terrible toll on the civilians caught in the shrinking battle zone, and the numbers who died there remain among the most painful and disputed questions of the whole war. International bodies have called for accountability, and the process of investigation, acknowledgement and memory continues to this day. It is a history the country is still working through, honestly and not always easily.
The north and east today
The north and east, for years beyond reach, are today among the most rewarding and gently visited parts of the island. These places are offered with care: some are living centres of worship and community, others carry memory. All ask for a traveller's respect.
- 1
Jaffna
The cultural capital of the Tamil north, a warm, unhurried city of Hindu temples, colonial churches, a Dutch fort and its own celebrated cuisine. Cut off for decades, it is now easily reached by train and road.
- 2
Nallur Kandaswamy Temple
Jaffna's golden-gated Hindu temple, the spiritual heart of the region and the focus of a spectacular annual festival. Dress modestly and follow the customs of a working place of worship.
- 3
Nainativu & the northern islands
A cluster of flat, sun-bleached islands off the Jaffna peninsula, reached by causeway and ferry, home to important Hindu and Buddhist shrines and a slow, timeless pace of life.
- 4
Trincomalee
A magnificent natural harbour on the east coast, with the clifftop Koneswaram temple, colonial-era Fort Frederick and, nearby, the calm sands of Nilaveli and Uppuveli.
- 5
The east-coast beaches
From Nilaveli in the north-east down to the surf breaks of Arugam Bay, the eastern shoreline offers some of the island's finest and least crowded beaches, best from around May to September.
- 6
Delft Island (Neduntheevu)
A remote outpost beyond Jaffna, known for wild ponies descended from Dutch colonial stock, coral-stone walls and baobab trees, reached by a free passenger ferry.
- 7
Tsunami Photo Museum, Hikkaduwa
On the southern coast, a small, sobering community museum remembering the 2004 disaster and the more than a thousand lives lost when a train was overwhelmed nearby at Peraliya.
- 8
Point Pedro & the far north
The northernmost tip of Sri Lanka, with lighthouses, palmyra palms and a quiet, end-of-the-island feel that rewards travellers who make the journey.
Reconciliation and the traveller
More than a decade and a half on, Sri Lanka is at peace. The railway to Jaffna reopened in 2014–2015 after twenty-four years, roads have been rebuilt, and the north and east, once beyond reach, now draw a growing number of visitors. Reconciliation between communities is a long road, with continuing debate about accountability, devolution and how the war is remembered, but for the traveller the island is calm, safe and generous.
To visit thoughtfully is itself a small part of the healing. Travelling to Jaffna, eating in a Tamil home-restaurant, sitting quietly in a Hindu temple or a Buddhist shrine, and listening rather than judging, brings income and connection to regions that spent decades cut off. Approach the subject of the war with tact: many people you meet will have lived through it and lost family, and it is not a topic to raise lightly.
The war is a recent and sobering chapter in a very long story. To place it in the fuller sweep of the island’s past, read about independence and modern Sri Lanka and the colonial era that preceded it. And when you are ready to travel, the whole island, south to north, is waiting: begin with Colombo or the hill country around Kandy.