The Sri Lankan People
Sri Lankan ethnically fall into four main categories. They are viz Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim and Burger. The population of the Sri Lanka was estimated to be 17.6 million in year 1994. The largest ethnic group is Sinhala being 74% of the Population. The Sinhala People, whose language belongs to the Indo-Aryan family, is the oldest living Indo-Aryan language. Evolution of this language can be followed by studying the inscriptions and literature from the third century BC. Arrival of Sinhala people to Sri Lanka on 6th BC was archeologically proven when excavation in the Anuradhapura citadel came across a vessel of ceramic which was inscripted in Brahmi script. The script "BIYA ANURADHA" which was the name of one of the ministers of the King Vijaya the leader of the people who came to Sri Lankan.
Historical chronicles of Sri Lanka called Mahavansa and Deepawansa corroborating with those archaeological evidence which was tested by radio carbon and photoluminescence methods. Immigration from South India was witnessed much later time and they were also desolated to the dry zone by Portuguese and Dutch who later captured the coastal areas of Sri Lanka. Buddhism was introduced to the isle in the 3rd century BC by Buddhist mission set by the India great emperor Asoka. Almost the entire population observed Buddhism and it became the national religion. Today 63% of the population and Buddhists almost all o them are Sinhala. 15.5% of population are Hindus and most of them are Tamil. As a religion, Muslim represent 7.6% of the population, while 6.8% of the population being the Roman Catholics.
Sri Lankans are well known for hospitality in all over the world. They are always smiling and friendly. They are very tribe base hence they love their mother land and their language very much.
