History of Sri Lanka

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The history of Sri Lanka covers Sri Lanka and its surrounding regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Prehistoric Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The earliest humans found in Sri Lanka date to Prehistoric times about 35,000 years ago. Little is known about the history before the Indo-Aryan Settlement in the 6th century BC. The earliest documents of the settlement on the Island and its early history are found in the national chronicles of the Mahāvamsa, Dipavamsa, and the Culavamsa. According to the Mahāvamsa, a chronicle written in Pāḷi, the preceding inhabitants of Sri Lanka were said to be Yakkhas and Nagas. Sinhalese history traditionally starts in 543 BC with the arrival of Prince Vijaya, a semi-legendary prince who sailed with 700 followers to the island, after being expelled from the Vanga Kingdom, in present-day Bengal. Prince Vijaya thereafter established the Sinhala Kingdom ushering in the historical period of...

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