A Historic Overview of the World Events during Sri Lanka’s Royal Kingdoms

This beautiful Indian Ocean island of 21 million people has once been described as a small universe. Yet, its not just the warm palm lined oceans, the wildlife of the land and sea and as many hues of scenery as your imagination can possibly fathom that makes Sri Lanka engage the intellect of a traveler. Its the sense of the past.

From Pre-Historic Caves to European Colonists

Stone-age tools dating back to around 125,000 BCE, the legend of the Sinhala race on copper coloured sand in 543 B.C., and wave upon wave of magnificent royal kingdoms till 1815; this island is not short of drama.

Skeletal remains and stone-age tools have been found in caves - rock shelters with exotic names like Fa Hien‐lena, Batadomba‐lena and Beli‐lena. Lena, means a cave. Fa Hien-lena can be visited as a day tour from Colombo or even on a holiday towards the southern beaches of Galle, while Beli-lena is easily accessible from Kitulgala, more famous for its white water rafting and lush rainforests that lures the avid bird watcher. Batadomba lena the home of the famous Balangoda Man is a more intrepid trek closer to Adams Peak.

The island’s strategic location along the maritime route lured Arab traders and European explorers, and its proximity to southern India invited countless invasions from the more dominant neighbour. The Portugese, Dutch and British came - in that order, and conquered. This extraordinary influence of diverse cultures on the island’s architecture, faith, food, technology and art makes a Sri Lanka holiday from the north to the south, a fascinating adventure for the curious traveler.

A Timeline of Sri Lanka’s Historical Royal Kingdoms, and World Events

With 2500 years of written history about faith, irrigation, engineering feats of Kings and Kingdoms that rivaled the world’s greatest cultures; Ayu in the Wild researched a timeline of what the rest of the world did, while a fiercely proud nation clung on to a centuries-old way of life.