Sinhalese

The Sinhalese are the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, an Indo-Aryan-speaking people whose ancestors are traditionally said to have migrated to the island from northern India over two thousand years ago, and the great majority of whom practice Theravada Buddhism, which has shaped Sinhalese law, kingship and culture since its introduction to the island around the third century BCE. Sinhalese civilization produced a succession of ancient irrigation-based kingdoms centered on cities including Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa, whose monumental Buddhist architecture remains a defining feature of Sri Lankan heritage. Relations between the Sinhalese majority and the island's Tamil minority deteriorated sharply after independence from Britain in 1948, culminating in the 1983 to 2009 civil war.