Governm.enit.—Ceylon is one of the British crown colonies, the government being conducted by a governor and two councils, executive and legislative, of both of which the governor is president. The chief sources of revenue are the customs duties, railway receipts, land rents and sales, licenses, and salt-farms.
People.—Buddhism prevails in the in terior, and generally among the Singha lese of the sea-coasts. The Singhalese have a colloquial language peculiar to themselves, but their classic and sacred writings are either in Pali or Sanskrit. The Hindu religion (Brahmanism) pre vails among the Tamils or population f Indian extraction, which forms a large proportion of the inhabitants of the N. and N. E. districts. The Tamils speak their own Tamil tongue. The inhabitants are divided in accordance with religions as follows: Buddhists, 2,791,120; Hin dus, 1,580,450: Mohammedans, 319,965; Christians, 451,584. Schools under the jurisdiction of the government are 871, with an attendance of about 113,000. The Singhalese possess a native chroni cle, the Mahawanso, which records the history of the island from 543 B. c. on ward, under a long series of kings reign ing most frequently at the ancient capi tal Anuradhapura, the earliest of these being leader of an invading host from India. Buddhism was introduced 307 B. C.
History.—The capital, Anuradhapura, as its ruins still testify, was a place of great extent and magnificence. The is
land was not known to Europeans till the time of Alexander the Great, and their knowledge of it was long vague and meager. By the time of Pliny it had become better known, and he gained much additional information from Cey lonese envoys that were sent to Rome. In the Middle Ages the country was much troubled by invasions of the Mala bars, and for a time it was even tribu tary to China. It had greatly declined in prosperity when visited by Euro peans, the first of whom was Marco Polo in the end of the 13th century. At its most flourishing period its popula tion was probably 10 times as great as at present. Little, however, was known in Europe regarding the island until 1505, when the Portuguese established a regular intercourse with it, and latterly made themselves masters of it. When they arrived the Malabars were in pos session of the N., the Moors or Arabs held all the seaports, the rest was under petty kings and chiefs. The Portuguese, who were cruel and oppressive rulers, were subsequently expelled by the Dutch in 1658, after a 20 years' struggle. The Dutch in turn were driven from the is land by tin British in 1796, though a part of the island remained independent under native princes. The King of Kandy, nominally the sovereign of the island, was deposed in 1815 on account of his cruelties, and the island was then finally annexed by Britain, though a re bellion had to be put down in 1817.