Coordinates: 7°N 81°E / 7°N 81°E / 7; 81

Capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte
(Administrative)
Colombo (Commercial)
6°56′N 79°52′E / 6.933°N 79.867°E / 6.933; 79.867 Largest city Colombo Official languages Sinhala
Tamil^[1] Recognised languages English Ethnic groups 74.9% Sinhalese
11.2% Sri Lankan Tamils
9.2% Sri Lankan Moors
4.2% Indian Tamils
0.5% Others (incl. Burghers, Malays, Veddas, Chinese, Africans) Religion 70.2% Buddhism
12.6% Hinduism
9.7% Islam
7.4% Christianity
0.1% Other/None Demonym(s) Sri Lankan Government Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic   Maithripala Sirisena Ranil Wickremesinghe Karu Jayasuriya Nalin Perera   Legislature Parliament Independence    4 February 1948 22 May 1972 7 September 1978   Area 65,610 km² (25,330 sq mi) (120th) 4.4 Population 21,670,000^[3] (57th) 20,277,597^[4] (57th) 327/km² (846.9/sq mi) (43rd) GDP (PPP) 2018 estimate $298.310 billion^[5] $13,847^[6] GDP (nominal) 2018 estimate $93.45 billion^[7] $4,310^[8] Gini (2016) 39.8^[9]
medium HDI (2017)  0.770^[10]
high · 76th Currency Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) Time zone UTC+5:30 (SLST) Date format Driving side left Calling code +94 ISO 3166 code LK Internet TLD You may need rendering support to display the Indic text in this article correctly.

Sri Lanka (UK: /sri ˈlæŋkə, ʃriː -/, US: /- ˈlɑːŋkə/ (listen);^[11][12] Sinhalese: ශ්‍රී ලංකා Śrī Laṃkā; Tamil: இலங்கை Ilaṅkai), officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal and to the southeast of the Arabian Sea. The island is historically and culturally intertwined with the Indian subcontinent, but is geographically separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the commercial capital and largest city, Colombo.

Sri Lanka's documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years.^[13] It has a rich cultural heritage and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, the Pāli Canon, date back to the Fourth Buddhist council in 29 BC.^[14][15] Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of great strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to the modern Maritime Silk Road.^[16][17][18]

Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule as Ceylon (/sɪˈlɒn/, US also /seɪ-/). A nationalist political movement arose in the country in the early 20th century to obtain political independence, which was granted in 1948; the country became a republic and adopted its current name in 1972. Sri Lanka's recent history has been marred by a 30-year civil war, which decisively ended when the Sri Lanka Armed Forces defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.^[19]

The current constitution stipulates the political system as a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. It has had a long history of international engagement, as a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the G77, and the Non-Aligned Movement. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of only two South Asian countries rated "high" on the Human Development Index (HDI), with its HDI rating and per capita income the highest among South Asian nations.^[10] The Sri Lankan constitution accords Buddhism the "foremost place", although it does not identify it as a state religion. Buddhism is given special privileges in the Sri Lankan constitution.^[20]

The island is home to many cultures, languages and ethnicities. The majority of the population is from the Sinhalese ethnicity, while a large minority of Tamils have also played an influential role in the island's history. Moors, Burghers, Malays, Chinese, and the indigenous Vedda are also established groups on the island.^[21]