One of the causes of the Sri Lankan Civil War, which falls under external influence, is colonialism. Sri Lanka was under British colonial rule from 1796-1948. The British implemented the divide and rule tactic when governing Sri Lanka, where minority groups, in this case Tamils, are given preferential treatment. This is to aggravate differences between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority. This way, the majority group that was being discriminated against would direct their grievances towards their ethnic counterparts instead of the British colonizers.
In the 19th century the British established coffee plantations on a large scale. The population of Sri Lanka was too small to provide adequate workforce, hence, over one million Tamils …show more content…
For instance, the American Ceylon Mission established exclusively in the Jaffna peninsula in 1816 provided elite English education comparable to university education in its schools. This education, however, was not available to all Jaffna Tamils, but mostly to a group who came to be known as ‘first class velallas’. The ready availability of English secondary schools in the North created a ‘structural imbalance’, giving the Sri Lankan Tamils, especially the ‘vellala caste’ an intrinsic advantage over the Sinhala majority with regard to higher education, colonial employment and the modern professions. Sri Lankan Tamils came to occupy a large share of civil service positions and acquired a considerable degree of economic clout. They were overrepresented in the administrative services relative to their proportions in the island’s population. In 1925, Sinhalese constituted 42.5 percent of the government medical service and 43.6 percent of the civil service, whereas the Sri Lankan Tamils made up 30.8 percent of the medical services and 20.5 percent of the civil service, although their respective proportions in the island’s population were 67 percent and 11 percent. These occupations placed Tamils in positions of social and economic superiority over the Sinhalese majority. The Tamil domination would later be used as a major …show more content…
The majority of the population educated in the local languages and the entire female population did not count. Less than 4 percent of the island’s total population was literate in English. The Sinhalese adult males were 71.5 percent and the Tamils 14.5 percent of the total Sri Lankan male population. But Sinhalese were only 56.4 percent of the voters while Tamils were 36.4 percent. The 1912 election was seen as a confirmation of Tamil’s permanent right to be represented on an equal footing with the Sinhalese, despite their numerical inferiority. It vindicated their self-esteem as a majority community, though in the numerical sense they are the
In the 19th century the British established coffee plantations on a large scale. The population of Sri Lanka was too small to provide adequate workforce, hence, over one million Tamils …show more content…
For instance, the American Ceylon Mission established exclusively in the Jaffna peninsula in 1816 provided elite English education comparable to university education in its schools. This education, however, was not available to all Jaffna Tamils, but mostly to a group who came to be known as ‘first class velallas’. The ready availability of English secondary schools in the North created a ‘structural imbalance’, giving the Sri Lankan Tamils, especially the ‘vellala caste’ an intrinsic advantage over the Sinhala majority with regard to higher education, colonial employment and the modern professions. Sri Lankan Tamils came to occupy a large share of civil service positions and acquired a considerable degree of economic clout. They were overrepresented in the administrative services relative to their proportions in the island’s population. In 1925, Sinhalese constituted 42.5 percent of the government medical service and 43.6 percent of the civil service, whereas the Sri Lankan Tamils made up 30.8 percent of the medical services and 20.5 percent of the civil service, although their respective proportions in the island’s population were 67 percent and 11 percent. These occupations placed Tamils in positions of social and economic superiority over the Sinhalese majority. The Tamil domination would later be used as a major …show more content…
The majority of the population educated in the local languages and the entire female population did not count. Less than 4 percent of the island’s total population was literate in English. The Sinhalese adult males were 71.5 percent and the Tamils 14.5 percent of the total Sri Lankan male population. But Sinhalese were only 56.4 percent of the voters while Tamils were 36.4 percent. The 1912 election was seen as a confirmation of Tamil’s permanent right to be represented on an equal footing with the Sinhalese, despite their numerical inferiority. It vindicated their self-esteem as a majority community, though in the numerical sense they are the