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Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the Maldives...
Timeline of Events
1835
10.9.1835
The Royal College, Colombo in Sri Lanka is established with the name Hillstreet Academy.
1886
11.1.1886
Ananda College, a leading Buddhist school in Sri Lanka is established with 37 students.
1935
12.18.1935
The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
1942
4.5.1942
World War II: The Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
1948
2.4.1948
Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
1955
12.14.1955
1956
4.5.1956
In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister.
1960
7.20.1960
Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
1972
5.22.1972
Ceylon adopts a new constitution, thus becoming a Republic, changes its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
1978
11.15.1978
A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.
1981
5.31.1981
Burning of Jaffna library, Sri Lanka, It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century.
1986
2.19.1986
Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers the eastern province of Sri Lanka.
5.3.1986
Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes in an airliner (Flight UL512) at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
1987
4.21.1987
The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
10.11.1987
Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed few thousand ethnic Tamil civilians, several hundred Tamil Tigers and few hundred Indian Army soldiers.
10.21.1987
Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 70 ethnic Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.
1988
11.3.1988
Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.
1989
8.2.1989
A massacre is carried out by an Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka killing 64 ethnic Tamil civilians.
1990
8.10.1990
More than 127 Muslims are killed in North East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
9.5.1990
Eastern University massacre, massacre of 158 Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan army at the Eastern University in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
9.9.1990
1990 Batticaloa massacre, massacre of 184 minority Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka.
1991
6.12.1991
1991 Kokkadichcholai massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village Kokkadichcholai near the eastern province town of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka.
1995
12.5.1995
The Sri Lankan government announces the conquest of Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
1996
1.31.1996
An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.
1998
1.25.1998
A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills 8 people and injures 25 others.
2004
12.26.2004
A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 250,000 people including over 1700 on a moving train
2005
8.12.2005
Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, is fatally shot by an LTTE sniper at his home.