HISTORY: FROM ITS ORIGINS TO THE 1960S
Named for the first time as Lankā in a Pali chronicle of the 13th century. Street. C., the island of Ceylon was visited by Buddha and Aśoka sent a Buddhist mission there. Given its position, trade was always very flourishing there. After centuries of wars with southern India, in the century. XVI the island, with the exception of the Kingdom of Kandy, was conquered by the Portuguese, supplanted in 1656 by the Dutch, followed in 1796 by the British, who in 1815 also took possession of Kandy. The new administration provided the island with roads and railways and planned production. During the Second World War Ceylon became the seat of the Allied headquarters in Southeast Asia. On February 4, 1948, the island gained independence within the Commonwealth. From 1947 to 1956, power was held by the United National Party (UNP) of Senanayake, which implemented a foreign policy of rapprochement with the underdeveloped countries of Southeast Asia (Columbus Plan) and the Western Bloc during the “cold war”. In 1955 Ceylon joined the UN. Inside, the government tried in vain to solve the various economic and racial problems, exacerbated by the struggle between Sinhalese and Tamils of Indian origin, employed as labor in the plantations. From 1956 to 1965 the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) of Solomon and Sirimavo Bandaranaike remained in power, a party facing the left, supporter of a policy of non-alignment in foreign affairs and nationalization within. In 1960, a woman was elected prime minister, the first in the world to hold that office. In 1964 the Bandaranaike-Shastri Pact was concluded with India for a solution to the Tamil problem. After the general elections of March 1965, which brought the UNP back to government headed by Senanayake, the government kept the country in an intermediate position between the two world blocs for five years, while inside it was grappling with economic problems, inherent in the production of tea and rice, and racial problems.
HISTORY: THE SEVENTIES
The general elections held in 1970 saw Sirimavo Bandaranaike return to power. His government immediately promoted a new draft of the constitution that contemplated the detachment of Ceylon from the Commonwealth and gave impetus to a program of reforms and nationalizations, aimed at the creation of a true socialist republic. In foreign policy, he forged diplomatic relations with North Korea, North Vietnam and the German Democratic Republic, while breaking existing ones with Israel.. In 1971 the government of Mrs. Bandaranaike, expression of a coalition between the SLFP, the Communist Party and the Trotskyist Party, experienced strong opposition from the Popular Liberation Front, which gathered young students, intellectuals and peasants and which had also contributed to the rise of the Bandaranaike. Although a state of siege had been decreed and very severe penalties had been foreseen against the guerrillas, on April 5, 1971 an armed revolt broke out in the countryside which was joined by thousands of Sinhalese. The authorities asked for aid and weapons from the major powers and in August the insurrection was, according to government sources, completely quelled; many insurgents had had to surrender and were sent to re-education camps, many had been killed in combat. Finally, on May 22, 1972, Ceylon, transformed into a Republic, it introduced a new constitution and assumed the ancient name of Sri Lanka. According to a2zcamerablog, Sri Lanka is a country located in Asia. The government coalition between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Communists and Trotskyists continued to rule the country until October 1975, when, already worn out in the search for solutions to the chronic rebellions and claims of the various ethnic and religious communities living in the ‘island, finally broke on the stumbling block of the nationalization of foreign-owned plantations. The left-wing parties, having left the government, went to the opposition. The crisis deepened further due to the accusations of transgression to the definitively broke the stumbling block of the nationalization of foreign-owned plantations. The left-wing parties, having left the government, went to the opposition. The crisis deepened further due to the accusations of transgression to the definitively broke the stumbling block of the nationalization of foreign-owned plantations. The left-wing parties, having left the government, went to the opposition. The crisis deepened further due to the accusations of transgression to the Land Reform Law of 1972 aimed against the Prime Minister and his family. In July 1977, general elections gave power to JR Jayawardene’s UNP. Appointed prime minister, he launched a new constitution, which came into force on January 1, 1978, transforming the country into a presidential republic. Having assumed the post of head of state, Jayawardene (re-elected in 1982) returned to a free-market policy in the economic field, favoring foreign investment.
