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During a period of great political crisis in the Kingdom of Kotte, the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka and sought to control the island's maritime trade, with a part of Sri Lanka subsequently becoming a Portuguese possession. Because its location made it a major trading hub, it was already known to both Far Easterners and Europeans as long ago as the Anuradhapura period (377 BCE–1017 CE). Also called the Teardrop of India, or the Granary of the East, Sri Lanka's geographic location and deep harbours have made it of great strategic importance, from the earliest days of the ancient Silk Road trade route to today's so-called maritime Silk Road. The earliest known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, known collectively as the Pāli canon, date to the fourth Buddhist council, which took place in 29 BCE.

Sri Lanka's documented history goes back 3,000 years, with evidence of prehistoric human settlements that dates back at least 125,000 years. Other long established groups include the Moors, the Burghers, the Malays, the Chinese, and the indigenous Vedda. The Sinhalese people form the majority of the nation's population, followed by the Tamils, who are the largest minority group and are concentrated in northern Sri Lanka both the linguistic groups have played an influential role in the island's history. Sri Lanka has a population of around 22 million (2020) and is home to many cultures, languages, and ethnicities. Sri Lanka shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the south-west and India in the north-west. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka ( UK: / s r i ˈ l æ ŋ k ə, ʃ r iː -/, US: /- ˈ l ɑː ŋ k ə/ ( listen) Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා, romanized: Śrī Laṅkā ( IPA: ) Tamil: இலங்கை, romanized: Ilaṅkai ( IPA: )), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. You may need rendering support to display the Indic text in this article correctly.