Independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire until 1972. [34], Also known as the Aryacakravarti dynasty, was a northern kingdom centred around the Jaffna Peninsula.[35]. Royal Ceylon Air Force helicopters delivered relief supplies to beleaguered police stations while combined service patrols drove the insurgents out of urban areas and into the countryside. Avant cette date, il était connu sous le nom de Ceylan par les populations originaires du pays. Known as Lanka--the "resplendent land"--in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana, the island has numerous other references that testify to … The promise of Dominion status and independence itself had been given by the Colonial Office. Other large, well-armed groups began to compete with LTTE. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully exploited the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural products to replenish the treasury. The earliest human remains found on the island of Sri Lanka date to about 38,000 years ago (Balangoda Man). The Sri Lanka government declared total victory on 18 May 2009. After winning the battle, Parakramabahu VI sent an officer named Alagakkonar to check the new kingdom of Kotte. [42] Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian" and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. The Dipavamsa was followed by the Mahavamsa (“Great Chronicle”) and its continuation, called the Culavamsa (“Little Chronicle”). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. The Soulbury Commission was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. In both human and political terms, the cost of the victory was high: an estimated 10,000 insurgents- -many of them in their teens—died in the conflict, and the army was widely perceived to have used excessive force. At the elections of 1947, the UNP won a minority of seats in parliament, but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha party of Solomon Bandaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. By 10 April, the rebels had taken control of Matara District and the city of Ambalangoda in Galle District and came close to capturing the remaining areas of Southern Province. The tradition speaks primarily of settlement by conquest, and tribes of conquerors led by a warrior nobility would certainly have propelled the Indo-Aryan migration southward. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.[40]. Panduvasudeva landed with 32 followers at Gokanna (now Trincomalee) on the east coast. Three of the participants were the only British colony subjects to be shot for mutiny during World War II. [65] As a candidate in the 1982 presidential elections, Wijeweera finished fourth, with more than 250,000 votes (as compared with Jayewardene's 3.2 million). In the early ages of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, the economy was based on farming and early settlements were mainly made near the rivers of the east, north central, and north east areas which had the water necessary for farming the whole year round. The earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c. 1000–800 BCE at Anuradhapura and Aligala shelter in Sigiriya (Deraniyagala 1992:709-29; Karunaratne and Adikari 1994:58; Mogren 1994:39; with the Anuradhapura dating corroborated by Coningham 1999). Ön Sri Lanka utgör en geologisk förlängning av subkontinenten Indien. L'histoire du Sri Lanka s'insère dans l'histoire plus large du monde indien et remonte à des millénaires. He was enthroned at Upatissagama and continued the Vijaya dynasty. [49] A few Sinhalese kept Tamil neighbours in their homes to protect them from the rioters. The act was enacted as a temporary measure, but it later became permanent legislation. A detailed description of the dynastic accounts from Vijaya's time is provided in the Mahavamsa. However, controversy exists as to the exact provenance of the early settlers; the legends contain evidence pointing to both the northeastern and the northwestern parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Un trek au Sri Lanka entre rizières, forêts et plantations de thé, tout est tourné vers l'ascension de l'Adam's Peak, la montagne sacrée. One band of settlers landed in Sri Lanka at the east-coast port of Gokanna, a natural port of disembarkation for vessels arriving from the Bay of Bengal. The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of Lord Louis Mountbatten. He in turn was deposed by Panaya Mara who was deposed by Pilaya Mara, murdered by Dathika in 88 BCE. Some early tribal names occurring in Sri Lanka also suggest connections with northwestern India and the Indus River region. [40] Marxist leaders also escaped to India where they participated in the independence struggle there. [13][14][11], Archaeological evidence for the beginnings of the Iron Age in Sri Lanka is found at Anuradhapura, where a large city–settlement was founded before 900 BCE. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of "Swaraj" ("outright independence") following the Indian example when Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926. Although the police were able to defend some areas unassisted, in many places the government deployed personnel from all three services in a ground force capacity. Histoire [modifier | modifier le wikicode] Au V e siècle, des peuples d'Inde tentèrent de conquérir l’île. A small garrison on the Cocos Islands manned by Ceylonese mutinied against British rule. Nonetheless, the Sinhalese continued to push for independence and the Sinhalese sovereignty, using the opportunities offered by the war, pushed to establish a special relationship with Britain. He built The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. He was able to liberate Mullaitivu and other parts of northern Vanni from Dutch rule. En chemin, nous nous sommes arrêtés dans un village un peu particulier… [66], On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated Islamic terrorist suicide bombings. After two weeks of fighting, the government regained control of all but a few remote areas. Early settlement and the spread of Buddhism, Early growth and political centralization, c. 200, Kandy and its struggle with European powers, Constitutionalism and nationalism (c. 1900–48), Country in crisis: growing debt, political wrangling, and terror attack, Experience the mesmerizing views of Sri Lanka. [11][12] This cultural complex spread from southern India along with Dravidian clans such as the Velir, prior to the migration of Prakrit speakers. [9], During the protohistoric period (1000-500 BCE) Sri Lanka was culturally united with southern India.,[10] and shared the same megalithic burials, pottery, iron technology, farming techniques and megalithic graffiti. Découvrez l'histoire du Sri Lanka.. European interest begins when Portuguese arrive in Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka. Indian frigates patrolled the coast and Indian troops guarded Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayaka while Indian Air Force helicopters assisted the counteroffensive. On 19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan military led by General Sarath Fonseka, effectively concluded its 26-year operation against the LTTE, its military forces recaptured all remaining LTTE controlled territories in the Northern Province including Killinochchi (2 January), the Elephant Pass (9 January) and ultimately the entire district of Mullaitivu. In any case, Indo-Aryan settlements grew in different parts of the island from about the 5th century bce. In a manifesto issued during this period, the group used the name Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna for the first time. In January 2015 presidential elections Mahinda Rajapaksa was defeated by the common candidate Maithripala Sirisena and Rajapaksa's attempted return was thwarted in the parliamentary election the same year by Ranil Wickremesinghe[62][63] This resulted in a unity government between the UNP and SLFP[64], In November 2019 presidential election former wartime defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the new president. Together, these chronicles constitute a literary record of the establishment and growth of Sinhalese political power and of Sri Lankan Buddhism; however, the documents must be used with caution and always in conjunction with archaeological—especially epigraphic—material. L’histoire du Sri Lanka dit que ce fut du fait de l’empereur Ashoka, qui y installa un système d’irrigation sophistiqué dans le centre et le nord du pays. Pandara Vanniyan allied with the Kandy Nayakars led a rebellion against the British and Dutch colonial powers in Sri Lanka in 1802. According to legend, the first settlers were led by a man named Vijaya. Le Sri Lanka a toujours été convoité pour son emplacement situé au carrefour de routes maritimes, ainsi que pour ses richesses. The Indian government repeatedly denied this claim. This phase of Sri Lankan culture may have seen the introduction of early Buddhism. Also important, however, was the pursuit of trade (as opposed to military conquest). The view that Indo-Aryan migrants laid the foundations of Sinhalese civilization increasingly has come into question since the late 20th century. Vers 1868, sous l'occupation britannique, un premier intérêt pour l'archéologie au Sri Lanka se manifeste. The Mahavamsa, written around 400 CE by the monk Mahanama, using the Deepavamsa, the Attakatha and other written sources available to him, correlates well with Indian histories of the period. Chronologie du Sri Lanka. The Act took effect immediately. Dominion status followed on 4 February 1948 with military treaties with Britain, as the upper ranks of the armed forces were initially British, and British air and sea bases remaining intact. The movement was started in the late 1960s by Rohana Wijeweera, the son of a businessman from the seaport of Tangalla, Hambantota District. Il y a maintenant 5 ans, Samir se rend en voyage au Sri Lanka et croise le chemin d'Anthony. The Mauryan-Sanskrit text Arthashastra referred to the pearls and gems of Sri Lanka.A kind of pearl , kauleya(Sanskrit :कौलेय) was referred in that text and also mentioned it collected from Mayurgrām of Sinhala. In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic. [75][76], Crisis of the Sixteenth Century (1505–1594), Robin Conningham - Anuradhapura - The British-Sri Lankan Excavations at Anuradhapura Salgaha Watta The waterway was used by Greek and Chinese ships traveling the southern Silk Route. Vasabha (67–111 CE), named on the Vallipuram gold plate, fortified Anuradhapura and built eleven tanks as well as pronouncing many edicts. [45] He subsequently formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946,[46] when a new constitution was agreed on, based on the behind-the-curtain lobbying of the Soulbury commission. [40] The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy. The discovery of several JVP bomb factories gave the government its first evidence that the group's public threats were to be taken seriously. The CNC did not seek independence (or "Swaraj"). L'histoire du Sri Lanka fait partie des plus tumultueuses et des plus mouvementées. During Ellalan's time Kelani Tissa was a sub-king of Maya Rata (in the south-west) and Kavan Tissa was a regional sub-king of Ruhuna (in the south-east). Sri Lanka possesses a historical tradition preserved in written form by Buddhist chroniclers. [2] [8], The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BCE, if not earlier (Possehl 1990; Deraniyagala 1992:734). The Tamil community faced a backlash from Sinhalese rioters including the destruction of shops, homes, savage beatings and the burning of Jaffna library. Devanampiya Tissa (250–210 BCE) was Sinhalese was friends with the King of the Maurya clan. Anura Bandaranaike was soon thrust into the role of the keeper of his father's legacy, but he inherited a political party torn apart by factionalism and reduced to a minimal role in the Parliament. The hunter-gatherer people known as the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddas, who still live in the central, Uva and north-eastern parts of the island, are probably direct descendants of the first inhabitants, Balangoda Man. Sri Lanka possesses a historical tradition preserved in written form by Buddhist chroniclers. [20] H. W. Codrington puts it, 'It is possible and even probable that Vijaya (`The Conqueror') himself is a composite character combining in his person...two conquests' of ancient Sri Lanka. The history of Sri Lanka is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean. In 1592, the Sinhalese moved their capital to the inland city of Kandy, a location more secure against attack from invaders. The story of Vijaya and Kuveni (the local reigning queen) is reminiscent of Greek legend and may have a common source in ancient Proto-Indo-European folk tales. They had been banished for misconduct from the kingdom of Sinhapura in northern India by Vijaya’s father, King Sinhabahu, who put them all in a ship and drove them away. Mahathir was an ancient port linking Sri Lanka to India and the Persian Gulf.[23]. Moreover, the Sinhalese language, which grew out of Indo-Aryan dialects from the mainland, eventually became indigenous solely to Sri Lanka and developed its own literary tradition. Later he drove her and the children away and sent to the Madurai court in India for a Pandu (probably referring to the Pandya dynasty) princess and for wives for his 700 followers. The attacks were most successful in the south. L'évolution historique de Sri Lanka a été marquée par deux mutations profondes. This established Sinhala as the first and preferred language in commerce and education. [40] The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the Donoughmore Commission reforms in 1931 and the Soulbury Commission recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by D. S. The monarch ended with the death of the last king, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha in 1832.[37]. [clarification needed], After the invasion of the Portuguese, Konappu Bandara (King Vimaladharmasuriya) intelligently won the battle and became the first king of the kingdom of Kandy. Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains, in the central hills, by burning the trees in order to catch game. … In order to prevent a repetition of the 1971 uprising, the government considered lifting the ban on the JVP in early 1988 and permitting the group to participate again in the political arena. On 5 April 1942, the Indian Ocean raid saw the Japanese Navy bomb Colombo. En 1972, le Dominion de Ceylan devient la République démocratique … Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The prospect of Tamil autonomy in the north together with the presence of Indian troops stirred up a wave of Sinhalese nationalism and a sudden growth of antigovernment violence. Gajabahu I (114–136) invaded the Chola kingdom and brought back captives as well as recovering the relic of the tooth of the Buddha. The constitutionalists led by D. S. Senanayake succeeded in winning independence. According to the Sinhalese tradition, as recorded in the Mahavamsa, the first Indian settlers on Sri Lanka were Prince Vijaya and his 700 followers, who landed on the west coast near Puttalam (5th century bce). Vijaya’s ancestors hailed from Bengal, in the northeast, but his father established himself subsequently in Gujarat, the area in northwest India from which the adventurers were put out to sea. The Mahavamsa account of the period prior to Asoka's coronation, 218 years after the Buddha's death, seems to be part legend. Universal suffrage starts at age 18. The brother of current president and former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa became the new prime minister. A Sangam Period classic, Manimekalai, attributes the origin of the first Pallava King from a liaison between the daughter of a Naga king of Manipallava named Pilli Valai (Pilivalai) with a Chola king, Killivalavan, out of which union was born a prince, who was lost in ship wreck and found with a twig (pallava) of Cephalandra Indica (Tondai) around his ankle and hence named Tondai-man. [29] The whole island was subsequently conquered and incorporated as a province of the vast Chola empire during the reign of his son Rajendra Chola.[30][31][32][33]. This king's reign was crucial to Theravada Buddhism and for Sri Lanka. After the victory of the United National Party in the 1977 elections, however, the new government attempted to broaden its mandate with a period of political tolerance. He also antagonized the Buddhist lobby by attacking politically active Buddhist Monks who were Bandaranaike's supporters. But later on when Candrabhanu became powerful enough he again invaded the Singhalese kingdom but he was defeated by the brother of Sadayavarman Sundara Pandyan I called Veera Pandyan I and Candrabhanu lost his life. My Little Sri Lanka est née d'une rencontre entre 2 entrepreneurs : Anthony (Sri Lankais) et Samir (Français). Sri Lanka est une île tropicale d'une superficie de 65 000 km2. Vous pouvez donc voyager en toute tranquillité. Silva, R. Kumar de, and Willemina G. M. Beumer, This page was last edited on 12 March 2021, at 11:30. By 1660 they controlled the whole island except the land-locked kingdom of Kandy. According to the Mahavamsa, Vijaya landed on Sri Lanka near Mahathitha (Manthota or Mannar[21]), and named[22] on the island of Tambaparni ("copper-colored sand"). It has been claimed that the LSSP had some hand in the action, though this is far from clear. Volumes 1 and 2 (1999/2006), Sudharshan Seneviratne (1989) - Pre-State Chieftains And Servants of the State: A Case Study of Parumaka -, Kiribamuna, S. (2000) "The role of the Port city of Mahathathitha in the Trade networks of the Indian Ocean", in. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BCE by Arhath Mahinda (son of the Indian emperor Ashoka). Later Indo Aryan migrants developed a unique hydraulic civilization named Sinhala. El… The Portuguese lost their possessions in Ceylon due to Dutch intervention in the Eighty Years' War. As a consequence vast numbers of people mostly Burghers left the country to live abroad as they rightfully felt discriminated against. She had many lovers who were poisoned by her and was killed by Kuttakanna Tissa. In order to draw the newer members more tightly into the organization and to prepare them for a coming confrontation, Wijeweera opened "education camps" in several remote areas along the south and southwestern coasts. The document that was produced, the new Constitution of 1978, drastically altered the nature of governance in Sri Lanka. histoire. James Emerson Tennent identified Tarshish with Galle. La première est contemporaine de la fin du Moyen Âge européen : avant, les influences indiennes dominent, et l'économie et la société demeurent essentiellement agraires ; après, les influences occidentales s'imposent peu à peu et l'économie marchande occupe une place accrue. [26], There was intense Roman trade with the ancient Tamil country (present day Southern India) and Sri Lanka,[27] establishing trading settlements which remained long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.[28]. Many of these new recruits were members of minority so called 'lower' castes (Karava and Durava) who felt that their economic interests had been neglected by the nation's leftist coalitions. The Sinhalese leader Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom', although his real reasons were more subtle. Vannimai, also called Vanni Nadu, were feudal land divisions ruled by Vanniar chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. It is very likely that further investigations will push back the Sri Lankan lower boundary to match that of South India. The current president is Maithripala Sirisena; presidents serve six-year terms. Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese during World War II. 12 of 1840 (sometimes called the Crown Lands Ordinance or the Waste Lands Ordinance),[38] a modern enclosure movement, and reduced to penury. The movement in Ceylon was minuscule, limited to the English-educated intelligentsia and trade unions, mainly in the urban centres. Although there had been some warning that an attack was imminent, Bandaranaike was caught off guard by the scale of the uprising and was forced to call on India to provide basic security functions. L’anglais n’est une langue maternelle pour peu de locuteurs au Sri Lanka, soit un peu plus de 15 000. By the mid-19th century, Ceylon tea had become a staple of the British market bringing great wealth to a small number of white tea planters. During the early phases of these migrations, a synthesis seems to have taken place between Indo-Aryan, pre-Indo-Aryan, and possibly Dravidian elements to create the early Sinhalese culture of the Anuradhapura period, which spanned the 3rd century bce to the 10th century ce. Sinhala remained the official language and the language of administration throughout Sri Lanka, but Tamil was given a new "national language" status. During this time, a Muslim traveller and geographer named Ibn Battuta came to Sri Lanka and wrote a book about it. The planters imported large numbers of Tamil workers as indentured labourers from south India to work the estates, who soon made up 10% of the island's population. The standard program of indoctrination, the so-called Five Lectures, included discussions of Indian imperialism, the growing economic crisis, the failure of the island's communist and socialist parties, and the need for a sudden, violent seizure of power. The Democratic Socialist republic of Sri Lanka is established on 22 May 1972. Ponnambalam. The better-known included the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam, Tamil Eelam Liberation Army, and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization. The ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. Firstly, to stop a war between a Naga king and his son in law who were fighting over a ruby chair. Initially identified simply as the New Left, this group drew on students and unemployed youths from rural areas, most of them in the sixteen-to-twenty-five-age-group. The Buddhist majority disliked the Portuguese occupation and its influences, welcoming any power who might rescue them. Dutch force out the Portuguese and establish control over the island except for the central kingdom of Kandy. President Kumaratunga is wounded in a bomb attack. Histoire du Sri Lanka Cette petite île, toute proche de l’Inde et située stratégiquement sur les anciennes voies commerciales maritimes fut depuis toujours un carrefour commerçant, religieux et culturel. By Tim Lambert. The new government was ill-prepared for the crisis that confronted it. It lasted from 1055 under Vijayabahu I to 1212 under the rule of Lilavati. Sri Lanka: History. The International Commission of Jurists, Amnesty International, and other human rights organizations condemned the act as being incompatible with democratic traditions. Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and has been found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BCE, suggesting early trade between Egypt and the island's inhabitants. In December 10, 2013, Permanent People's Tribunal unanimously ruled Sri Lanka guilty of the crime of genocide against the Tamil people.[55][56][57][58][59][60][61]. Between 1597 and 1658, a substantial part of the island was under Portuguese rule. With Wijeweera still underground, however, the JVP had no clear leadership at the time, and it was uncertain whether it had the cohesion to mount any coordinated offensive, either military or political, against the government. Armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion and the 1848 Matale Rebellion. Dhatusena (459–477) "Kalaweva" and his son Kashyapa (477–495) built the famous Sigiriya rock palace where some 700 rock graffiti give a glimpse of ancient Sinhala. [25], Ellalan (205–161 BCE) was a Tamil King who ruled "Pihiti Rata" (Sri Lanka north of the Mahaweli) after killing King Asela. Senanayke died in 1952 after falling from a horse and was succeeded by his son Dudley Senanayake, the then minister of Agriculture. [15] A similar site from the same period has also been discovered near Aligala in Sigiriya.[16]. The Mahavamsa also describes the Buddha visiting Sri Lanka three times. [34] Sri Lanka was invaded for the 3rd time by the Pandyan Dynasty under the leadership of Arya Cakravarti who established the Jaffna kingdom. Links with peoples from the Southeast Asian archipelago also are possible, however. In July 1983, communal riots took place due to the ambush and killing of 13 Sri Lankan Army soldiers by the Tamil Tigers using the voters list, which contained the exact addresses of Tamils. Despite its obvious affinities with India, Sri Lanka nevertheless developed a unique identity over the ages that ultimately set it apart from its neighbour. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office. Remnants of these early inhabitants were absorbed by the Indo-Aryans—or, more precisely, speakers of Indo-Aryan languages—who immigrated from northern India about the 5th century bce and developed into the Sinhalese. These camps provided training in Marxism–Leninism and in basic military skills. The DJV claimed responsibility for the August 1987 assassination attempts against the president and prime minister. Finer tools made of quartz and occasionally of chert become visible in the archaeological record about 28,000 years ago. A total of 267 people were killed,[67][68] including at least 45 foreign nationals,[69] three police officers, and eight bombers, and at least 500 were injured. Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 monarchs from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods. In addition, he offered many top-level positions, including that of minister of justice, to Tamil civil servants. In 1958, the first major riots between Sinhalese and Tamils flared up in Colombo as a direct result of the government's language policy. Le bouddhisme s’y installa trois siècles plus tard. The settlers came in numerous clans or tribes; the most powerful were the Sinhalese, who eventually gave their name to the descendants of the various groups. Vijaya is an Indian prince, the eldest son of King Sinhabahu ("Man with Lion arms") and his sister Queen Sinhasivali. [citation needed], A legacy of the Dutch period in Ceylon are the Dutch Burghers, a people of mixed Dutch and local origin. Jayewardene's UNP offered other concessions in a bid to secure peace. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. Senanayake. Along with the group's renewed violence came a renewed fear of infiltration of the armed forces. While in Moscow, he studied Marxist ideology but, because of his openly expressed sympathies for Maoist revolutionary theory, he was denied a visa to return to the Soviet Union after a brief trip home in 1964. The settlement was about 15 hectares in 900 BCE, but by 700 BCE it had expanded to 50 hectares. The violence dropped off after talks in February but escalated again in April and the conflict continued until the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009. The Soulbury Commission rejected the submissions by Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal character[clarification needed]. As an increasing number of civilians were caught in the fighting, Tamil support widened for the "boys", as the guerrillas began to be called. ANCIENT SRI LANKA. Sa plus grande ville est Colombo, son ancienne capitale, avec deux millions d’habitants. Their Achievements include the construction of the largest reservoirs and dams of the ancient world as well as enormous pyramid-like stupa (dāgaba in Sinhala) architecture. Some of these latter supporters actually provided sketches of police stations, airports, and military facilities that were important to the initial success of the revolt. Each of these groups had forces measured in the hundreds if not thousands. With its growth as the strongest Sinhalese kingdom, the city of Anuradhapura and the nearby settlements flourished. In 1803, the British invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in the first Kandyan War, but were repulsed. Appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London were abolished and plantations were nationalised to fulfil the election pledges of the Marxist program and to "prevent the ongoing dis-investment by the owning companies". In March 1971, after an accidental explosion in one of these factories, the police found fifty-eight bombs in a hut in Nelundeniya, Kegalla District. An excellent student, Wijeweera had been forced to give up his studies for financial reasons. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the Buddhist temporalities act. The Dutch (Protestants) persecuted the Catholics and the remaining Portuguese settlers but left Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone.