Sri Lanka

Where is Sri Lanka?

Located in Southern Asia, Sri Lanka is an island nation. It has a 1,340.00 km coastline.

The capital cities of Sri Lanka are Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte and Colombo. Colombo is the commercial center of Sri Lanka while Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is the administrative center in the country and handles all matters to do with Sri Lankan politics. The city of Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte is located in the southwestern part of the island while Colombo is located in the west region of the island. The city of Colombo was founded in 1802, and the city of Kotte was established in the 14th century. The two cities have a significant number of residents and are the leading among the cities of Sri Lanka. It has a population of 5,648,000. Colombo on the other hand has a population of 2,234,289. Both the cities have many tourist attraction sites ranging from parks, zoo, and great historical cultures. Sri Lanka experiences a tropical climate with Colombo having an average of 27 degree Celsius. In Colombo, May is the wettest month. Kotte experiences 74.4% humidity throughout the year, and February is the least humid month while June is the most humid month in the city. Having the two cities in Sri Lanka has helped the government manage the rapid urbanization of the island.

Sri Lanka is an Asian country covering 65,610.00 km² of which 1.49% is water and 64,630.00 km² is land. This makes it the 75th smallest country in the world and slightly larger than West Virginia. Its geographic coordinates are 7 00 N, 81 00 E and Colombo is the capital city.

The name Sri Lanka means "resplendent island" in Sanskrit.

Its ISO code is LK.

Geography

Sri Lanka has a mean elevation of 228 m above sea level.

It has a hot and dry climate with rainy seasons from April to November, depending on the region. Its terrain is mostly low, with flat to rolling plains and mountains in the south-central interior.

Population

Sri Lanka has a population of 21,203,000 making it the 58th largest in the world. The majority of the population is concentrated in the southwest, as well as along the eastern coast.

Sinhala and Tamil are both widely spoken languages. The majority ethnic group is Sinhalese, followed by Sri Lankan Tamil and Sri Lankan Moors. The majority of the population practices Buddhism, with a strong Hindu minority.

Sri Lanka Island two official languages: Tamil and Sinhalese. Sinhalese is widely spoken in the western, southern, and central parts of the island. On the other hand, the eastern and northern regions speak Tamil. Apart from the two official languages there are indo-Portuguese, English, Arabic, Sri Lankan Creole, Veddah and sign languages. The majority spoken language is Sinhalese which makes up 79.9 % of the population; English is spoken by 10% of the population while the other remaining 10.1% speak Tamil with other minority languages. The minority languages in Sri Lanka are Veddah, Arabic, Creole Malay, and sign language. Although Tamil and Sinhalese are the main languages in Sri Lanka, English is used by many as their second language.

The dialing code for the country is 94.

Government

Sri Lanka is an independent country. It gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. Its constitution was last ratified in 1978.

Sri Lanka has a semi presidential system of government where the chief of state is the head and commander of the armed forces. The chief of state serves for ten terms of five years each. The president is given powers by the constitution to appoint the prime minister. The prime minister is second in command after the chief of state and acts as the deputy of the president. Sri Lanka's political field features many parties, but two parties have dominated the field for the last twenty years. The two dominant political parties on some occasions have had to form coalitions with smaller parties to win popular support in elections. The parliament of Sri Lanka is located on an island on Lake Diyawanna. It was built in 1979 by a consortium of companies from Japan. The architecture behind the regional modernism style of the parliament is Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa. Sri Lankans aged 18 years and above are required by law to elect the leaders in a general election. The legislature of Sri Lanka comprises of 225 lawmakers.

Economy

Factoring in Purchasing Power Parity, Sri Lanka's GDP is $237,000,000,000.00 (USD) with $11,200.00 (USD) per capita. This makes it the 61st largest economy and its citizens the 130th richest in the world. The currency of Sri Lanka is the Rupee (LKR).

Its major export partners are the United States, the United Kingdom, and India. Its main exports are textiles and apparel, tea and spices, and rubber manufactures. Its major import partners are India, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. Its major imports include petroleum, textiles, machinery, and building materials.

Flag

The flag of Sri Lanka is comprised of 4 colors: yellow, green, orange and red. The hoist has two vertical stripes of green and orange with a yellow border. Next to the stripes is a square with a golden lion holding a sword and with Bo leaves on each corner of the square. The flag was adopted in 1972. The green and orange colors represent the Muslims and Hindus in Sri Lanka while the yellow color that makes the borders stands for Buddhism. The sword symbolizes the bravery of the nation while the lion represents the Sinhalese race. The Bo leaves on the corners represent the four virtues in Buddhism, which are happiness, kindness, equality, and compassion. A committee designed the flag under the directive of the first prime minister. The committee designed the current flag based on the first flag of the island. The flag was first hoisted on March 3, 1950. Before the current flag, the first flag was created by the first king. The flag was used until Britain colonized Sri Lanka. During the colonization of Sri Lanka, the union flag was used until the island got independence in 1948. After independence Sri Lanka reintroduced its previous flag with a few added elements.