Quick Facts
Ethnicities:
-Sinhalese
-Sri Lankan Moors
-Indian Tamil
-Sri Lankan Tamil
Languages:
-Sinhala (official and national language)
-Tamil (national language)
Religions:
-Buddhist (official)
-Muslim
-Hindu
Population: 5,548,042
Capital: Colombo
Country Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Government Type: republic
National Holidays:
-Independence Day, 4 February (1948)
-Sinhalese
-Sri Lankan Moors
-Indian Tamil
-Sri Lankan Tamil
Languages:
-Sinhala (official and national language)
-Tamil (national language)
Religions:
-Buddhist (official)
-Muslim
-Hindu
Population: 5,548,042
Capital: Colombo
Country Name: Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Government Type: republic
National Holidays:
-Independence Day, 4 February (1948)
Current Events
2003 May - Country's worst-ever floods leave more than 200 people dead and drive some 4,000 people from their homes.
2004 July - Suicide bomb blast in Colombo - the first such incident since 2001.
2004 December - More than 30,000 people are killed when a tsunami, massive waves generated by a powerful undersea earthquake, devastate coastal communities.
2005 August - State of emergency after foreign minister is killed by a suspected Tiger assassin.
2005 November - Mahinda Rajapaksa, prime minister at the time, wins presidential elections.
Mounting violence 2006 April - Attacks begin to escalate again.
A suicide bomber attacks the main military compound in Colombo, killing at least eight people. The military launch air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets.
2008 October - Suicide bombing blamed by government on Tamil Tigers kills 27 people, including a former general, in the town of Anuradhpura.
2009 February - International concern over the humanitarian situation of thousands of civilians trapped in the battle zone prompts calls for a temporary cease-fire. This is rejected by the government, which says it is on the verge of destroying the Tamil Tigers, but it offers an amnesty to rebels if they surrender.
2009 October - Government announces early presidential and parliamentary elections.
2009 November - Opposition parties form alliance to fight elections. The new alliance includes Muslim and Tamil parties and is led by former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Government says 100,000 refugees released from camps.
President Rajapaksa dissolves parliament, clearing way for elections in April.
European Union suspends Sri Lanka's preferential trade status because of concerns over its human rights record.
2010 April - President Rajapaksa's ruling coalition wins landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
2010 September - Parliament approves a constitutional change allowing President Rajapaksa to seek unlimited number of terms.
2012 November - The government dismisses a UN report that it intimidated UN staff investigating abuses at the end of the civil war in 2009. The report also said UN human rights agencies had failed to fulfil their responsibility to protect civilians in the final months of the conflict.
2013 January - Parliament passes impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake over 14 charges of financial and official misconduct, which the opposition says are politically motivated. She is dismissed and replaced by the government's senior legal adviser, Mohan Peiris.
2013 March - UN Human Rights Council passes highly critical resolution urging Sri Lanka to conduct "independent and credible investigation" into alleged war crimes during Tamil Tiger insurgency.
2013 April - Amnesty International accuses Sri Lanka of intensifying crackdown on dissent. The organisation urges the Commonwealth not to hold its next summit - due in November 2013 - there unless the human rights situation improves. Sri Lanka rejects the allegations, saying that a rehabilitation process is under way.
2004 July - Suicide bomb blast in Colombo - the first such incident since 2001.
2004 December - More than 30,000 people are killed when a tsunami, massive waves generated by a powerful undersea earthquake, devastate coastal communities.
2005 August - State of emergency after foreign minister is killed by a suspected Tiger assassin.
2005 November - Mahinda Rajapaksa, prime minister at the time, wins presidential elections.
Mounting violence 2006 April - Attacks begin to escalate again.
A suicide bomber attacks the main military compound in Colombo, killing at least eight people. The military launch air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets.
2008 October - Suicide bombing blamed by government on Tamil Tigers kills 27 people, including a former general, in the town of Anuradhpura.
2009 February - International concern over the humanitarian situation of thousands of civilians trapped in the battle zone prompts calls for a temporary cease-fire. This is rejected by the government, which says it is on the verge of destroying the Tamil Tigers, but it offers an amnesty to rebels if they surrender.
2009 October - Government announces early presidential and parliamentary elections.
2009 November - Opposition parties form alliance to fight elections. The new alliance includes Muslim and Tamil parties and is led by former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Government says 100,000 refugees released from camps.
President Rajapaksa dissolves parliament, clearing way for elections in April.
European Union suspends Sri Lanka's preferential trade status because of concerns over its human rights record.
2010 April - President Rajapaksa's ruling coalition wins landslide victory in parliamentary elections.
2010 September - Parliament approves a constitutional change allowing President Rajapaksa to seek unlimited number of terms.
2012 November - The government dismisses a UN report that it intimidated UN staff investigating abuses at the end of the civil war in 2009. The report also said UN human rights agencies had failed to fulfil their responsibility to protect civilians in the final months of the conflict.
2013 January - Parliament passes impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake over 14 charges of financial and official misconduct, which the opposition says are politically motivated. She is dismissed and replaced by the government's senior legal adviser, Mohan Peiris.
2013 March - UN Human Rights Council passes highly critical resolution urging Sri Lanka to conduct "independent and credible investigation" into alleged war crimes during Tamil Tiger insurgency.
2013 April - Amnesty International accuses Sri Lanka of intensifying crackdown on dissent. The organisation urges the Commonwealth not to hold its next summit - due in November 2013 - there unless the human rights situation improves. Sri Lanka rejects the allegations, saying that a rehabilitation process is under way.