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Premadasa, Ranasinghe

(Encyclopedia)Premadasa, Ranasinghe, 1924–1993, Sri Lankan political leader. As a member of the Ceylon Labour party, he worked as a labor organizer and was elected deputy mayor of Colombo in 1955. He then joined ...

moonstone

(Encyclopedia)moonstone, an orthoclase feldspar, found in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Madagascar (and formerly in the St. Gotthard district of Switzerland). In spite of its pronounced cleavage, it is widely used as a g...

Nuwara Eliya

(Encyclopedia)Nuwara Eliya no͝ovˈərə āˈlĭyə, no͞orāˈlēə [key], town (1990 est. pop. 26,000), S Sri Lanka. A hill resort (alt. 6,194 ft/1,889 m) and health center in a tea-growing area, it was first set...

spinel

(Encyclopedia)spinel, magnesium aluminum oxide, MgAl2O4, a mineral crystallizing in the isometric system, usually as octahedrons. It occurs as an accessory mineral in basic igneous rocks, in aluminum-rich metamorph...

Diemen, Anton van

(Encyclopedia)Diemen, Anton van änˈtōn vän dēˈmən [key], 1593–1645, Dutch colonial official. As governor-general for the Dutch East India Company in the East Indies after 1636, he captured Ceylon (Sri Lank...

Kotelawala, Sir John Lionel

(Encyclopedia)Kotelawala, Sir John Lionel, 1895–1980, Sri Lankan political and military leader. After studying at Christ College, Cambridge, he returned to Sri Lanka (then the British colony of Ceylon), joining t...

Dravidians

(Encyclopedia)Dravidians drəvĭdˈēəns [key], name sometimes given to the peoples of S and central India and N Sri Lanka who speak Dravidian languages. They are so called for purely linguistic reasons; the peopl...

Parakrama Bahu I

(Encyclopedia)Parakrama Bahu I päräkˈrəmə bäˈro͞o [key], fl. 12th cent., Sinhalese king of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; 1153–86). He was the first to unite the island under one rule after Chola invaders were dr...

Fonseka, Sarath

(Encyclopedia)Fonseka, Sarath säˈrät fänsĕkˈä [key], 1950–, Sri Lankan general and politician. He joined the army in 1970 and rose through the officer corps. From the early 1980s he led Sri Lankan troops i...

Jarring, Gunnar

(Encyclopedia)Jarring, Gunnar gŭnˈär yärˈĭng [key], 1907–2002, Swedish diplomat. He entered diplomatic service during World War II and was minister to India (1948–51), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka; 1950–51), a...