The British had been visiting Ceylon long before they arrived as rulers. In the 17th century, they had used Kottiyar harbour in Trincomalee for trade, ship repairs and shelter from the monsoon.

The British government, just after World War II was not quite ready to prepare a new constitution for Ceylon. The colonial office was not ready at all and they consulted Prime Minister D S Senanayake ...

A large part of the plantation sector was owned and managed by British companies, as was also a major share of the country’s trade and industry. The presence of British armed forces was insured by a ...

All European armies in Ceylon (and also South India) recruited more or less from the same pool of military labour. Only the numbers varied, with the British using locals much more than the Dutch.

THE lovely island of Ceylon, which had been a British Crown Colony since 1798, could have become completely independent in 1948 if its political class had so decided. In the vast, comprehensive ...

As the Pacific War intensified, Japan launched a daring offensive far from home. In 1942, Japanese forces struck deep into the Indian Ocean, raiding Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and threatening the British ...

THE British Crown Colony of Ceylon is in the throes of constitutional change. Many people think that this great island is part of India. In fact, its administration is wholly separate from that of ...

The film captures early British Ceylon – fishermen with cormorants and egrets, bullock carts, panoramas of rural villages, tea estates and dense jungle, against the world of the British Julia – ...