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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Sri Lanka
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(previously Ceylon) Member of the *Commonwealth since 1948. European control of the island began in the 16C with the Portuguese, from whom it was taken by the Dutch in the 17C. The British captured it in 1796, during the *French Revolutionary Wars, and it was ceded to Britain in 1802 by the treaty of *Amiens. Ceylon became in that year a crown colony (unlike India, which was administered by the *East India Company until 1858), and it made rather easier progress than its neighbour towards independence, which was achieved in 1948. Ceylon was an exclusively European word; it was replaced in 1972 by Sri Lanka (the island's name in Pali, the language of the Buddhist scriptures).
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