The Democratic Socalist Republic of Sri Lanka Formerly Known as Ceylon

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, and most commonly referred to as simply Sri Lanka, is a mid-size island nation located in the Indian Ocean. The population of Sri Lanka is approximately 20,100,000 people, which ranks it as the 56^th most populous country in the world, behind another island nation, Madagascar. Sri Lanka is located off the southeastern coast of India and being an island, doesn't share any common borders with any other countries. The island nation spans across 25,332 square miles of land, which places it as the 122^nd largest country in the world by geographic area. Sri Lanka is 270 miles long and 140 miles wide as its widest point. The former capital and largest city in Sri Lanka is Colombo, an economic center with over 650,000 inhabitants. The current capital of Sri Lanka, since 1982, is Sri Jayewardenapura Kotte, a suburb outside of Colombo with roughly 125,000 residents. The other important cities in Sri Lanka are Galle, Jaffna, and Kandy, though none of them are as significant as Colombo and Sri Jayewardenapura Kotte. Sri Lanka is ethnically diverse and is comprised of five main ethnic groups: the Sinhalese, who account for roughly 75 percent of the national population, the Tamils, the Eurasians, the Moors, and the Burghers. The Burgher and Eurasian ethnic groups both have ancestral ties to the European continent, with the Burghers descending from the Dutch and Portuguese, and the Eurasians descending from the British. Since Sinhalese is the most predominant ethnic group in Sri Lanka, the Sinhalese language is the official language and is the most widely-spoken. Other languages that are widely-used are English and Tamil.