Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon before 1972.
• Sri Lanka is known as both the ‘pearl of the Indian Ocean’ and the ‘teardrop of India’ due to its shape.
  
• Sri Lanka is also known as 'The Nation of Smiling People'.
• The capital city of Sri Lanka is Sri Jayawardanapura Kotte, not Colombo.
• It is the second richest nation in South Asia, in terms of GDP per capita.
• Sri Lanka is one of the world’s largest tea exporters.
• Sri Lanka has a literacy rate of 92 percent, which means they have the highest literacy rate in the whole of South Asia.
• When Sri Lankans say yes, they don’t nod their heads up and down but rather waggle it from side to side, so it looks as if they are saying no instead.
• The very first female prime minister in the world is Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka. She first served in 1960 and held three terms: 1960–1965, 1970–1977, and 1994–2000.
• Bandaranaike’s daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, was the first female president elected in Sri Lanka. She served for two consecutive terms.
• Sri Lanka achieved its independence from Britain in 1948 – the same year when Gandhi began his final fast, the Republic of Ireland was declared, and the country of Israel was formed.
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