Hi everyone! Welcome back to A Kick Of History! February 4, 2021 was the 73rd Sri Lankan Independence Day! So, to honor that, I thought for today's blog we would talk about how we got to independence day. Without further ado, let's get on with it! All my info is from this website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Ceylon_period#:~:text=The%20British%20Ceylon%20period%20is,when%20the%20country%20regained%20independence.
Ceylon, was the British Crown colony of what is now called Sri Lanka. The British ruled over Ceylon/Sri Lanka from March 2, 1918 to February 4, 1948. This was a very long ruling! Initially, the British hadn't acquired all of Sri Lanka as the Kingdom of Kandy was not acquired yet. But, from 1817 to 1848, the British managed to acquire all of Sri Lanka.
Before the beginning the Dutch governance, Sri Lanka was divided between the Kingdom of Kandy and and the Portuguese Empire. These two were in the middle of a war for complete control over the island. This small island soon caught the attention of the Dutch Republic. And soon Dutch rule over the island was forced.
Then, in the late 18th century, the Dutch were weakened by the wars that they had with Great Britain and they were conquered by Napoleonic France. The Dutch leaders soon became refugees in London. So, since they were no longer able to govern their part of the island, the Dutch transferred their rule to the British in 1802. The capture of the island by the British began immediately. They soon began capture of the Kingdom of Kandy, but they were very bloodily repulsed. This was in the 1st Kandyan War. But later, in 1815, Kandy was finally occupied by the British. This was in the second Kandyan War.
Following the suppression of the Uva Rebellion, the poor in Kandy were stripped of their lands by the Crown Lands Ordinance No. 12 of 1840. This was a modern enclosure movement and left many to penury. The British found that Sri Lanka was very suitable for coffee, tea, and rubber plantation. Soon, Sri Lankan tea was a staple food in British markets. This brought a lot of wealth to a small class of white tea planters. The planters soon brought large numbers of Tamil workers to be laborers, these workers soon made up 10% of the island population. The workers had to live in slave-like conditions. They had to live in line-rooms, which were not very different from cattle sheds.
A bit after this, the Ceylon National Congress or CNC was created. This group or congress was created to agitate for greater self-legislation in Sri Lanka. But, this party soon split up along ethnic and caste lines. Professor K. M. de Silva, was a famous Peradeniya historian. He pointed out that the refusal of Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status to be the main cause of the break of the CNC. The CNC did not seek independence or "Swaraj". So, what could be called the independence movement broke out into two streams. These streams were the constitutionalists who sought to gain independence by gradual modification to the status of Ceylon. And, there were the more radial groups. These groups were associated with The Colombo Youth League, the Labor Movement of Goonasighe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These said organizations were the first to raise the cry of Swaraj, outright independence. The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the Donoughmore Commission reforms and the Soulbury Commission recommendations. These upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of Ministers. This was headed by the prime minister at the time, D. S. Senenayake.
During World War II, Sri Lanka was a front-line British base against the Japanese. On April 5, 1942 the Japanese dropped a bomb on Colombo. This lead to the flight of Indian merchants who were dominant in Colombo's commercial sector. This flight removed a major problem facing the Senenayake government. Marxist leaders also escaped to India. They fought the struggle for independence there.
The government in Sri Lanka was miniscule and it was limited to the English intelligentsia, and trade unions which were mainly in urban areas. These groups were led by Robert Gunnawardena. In contrast to this "heroic" but ineffective effect to war, Senenayake's government took advantage of the was that happening and found a way to further it's rapport with the commanding elite.
Sri Lanka became crucial to the British Empire during the war, while Lord Louis Mountbatten used Colombo as headquarters for the Eastern Theater. Oliver Goonatilleka successfully made good use of the markets for the country's rubber and other agricultural goods to replenish the treasury. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka still agitated independence and Sinhalese sovereignty used opportunities given by the war to create a special relationship with Britain.
Meanwhile, the Marxists saw the war and chose a path of agitation that was disproportionate to their combat strength. They very clearly opposed to the "constitutionalist" approach that many leader including Senenayake had taken. So, a small amount of people on Cocos Island, manned by the Ceylonese attempted to take away the British.
But, in the end the constitutionalists, led by Senenayake won independence for Sri Lanka on February 4, 1948. The Soulbury Constitution was basically what Senenayake's ministers had drafted in 1944. Finally, the Dominion status, and independence itself, was given by the Colonial Office.
So my friends, that is how we got here! How we finally got to independence day for the Sri Lankans. This is why we remember on February 4, the blood that was shed, and the struggles that were passed, for the independence of Sri Lanka!
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