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The Sinhalese were a “majority with a minority complex” Soosaipillai Keethaponcalan (2002), Georgetown University (2013). Their majority seemed small in comparison to the million of Tamils living less than a thousand miles away in Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state. The British colonial period lasted from 1815 to 1948, during which the British primarily sought monetary gain from Sri Lanka’s supply of tea, coffee, coconuts, and rubber (Georgetown University, 2013). Tea plantations were particularly financially advantageous. A labor shortage led the British to employ Indian Tamils to work on tea plantations and relative to white labor, importing Tamil labor from India was considerably cheaper.

The Sinhalese were not only regionally outnumbered, but also outperformed. Large international Tamil communities in India, South Africa, Singapore, and other parts of the British Empire allowed Sri Lankan Tamils to use their ethnicity to gain access to commercial networks within the empire and it was this connection to the Western world of commerce that presented them with superior professional opportunities. Furthermore, English institutions—such as universities and churches—were located primarily in northern areas of Sri Lanka, which were dominated by Tamils. The British favored English speakers, so Tamils outcompeted their Sinhalese counterparts in the civil service sector. At the time of independence in 1948, Tamils comprised around 30% of the higher ranks of civil service, while comprising around 20% of the island’s population (Keethaponcalan, 2002).