A History of Sri Lanka

A History of Sri Lanka
Author: K. M. De Silva
Publisher: Penguin Books India
Total Pages: 804
Release: 2005
Genre: Sri Lanka
ISBN: 9789558095928

The History Of Sri Lanka From The Earliest Times To The Present Sri Lanka Is An Ancient Civilization, Shaped And Thrust Into The Modern Globalizing World By Its Colonial Experience. With Its Own Unique Problems, Many Of Them Historical Legacies, It Is A Nation Trying To Maintain A Democratic, Pluralistic State Structure While Struggling To Come To Terms With Separatist Aspirations. This Is A Complex Story, And There Is Perhaps No Better Person To Present It In Reasoned, Scholarly Terms Than K.M. De Silva, Sri Lanka S Most Distinguished And Prolific Historian. A History Of Sri Lanka, First Published In 1981, Has Established Itself As The Standard Work On The Subject. This Fully Revised Edition, In Light Of The Most Recent Research, Brings The Story Right Up To The Early Years Of The Twenty-First Century. The Book Provides Comprehensive Coverage Of All Aspects Of Sri Lanka S Development From A Classical Buddhist Society And Irrigation Economy, To Its Emergence As A Tropical Colony Producing Some Of The World S Most Important Cash Crops, Such As Cinnamon, Tea, Rubber And Coconut, And Finally As An Asian Democracy. It Is A Study Of The Political Vicissitudes Of Sri Lanka S Ancient Civilization And The Successive Phases Of Portuguese, Dutch And British Colonial Rule. The Unfortunate Consequences Of Becoming A Centre Of Ethnic Tension And Sri Lanka S Long-Standing Relationship With India Are Also Discussed. Exhaustively Researched And Analytical, This Book Is An Invaluable Reference Source For Students Of Ancient, Colonial And Post-Colonial Societies, Ethnic Conflict And Democratic Transitions, As Well As For All Those Who Simply Want To Get A Feel Of The Rich And Varied Texture Of Sri Lanka S Long History.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka
Author: Jonathan Spencer
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2002-09-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134949790

In the past decade, Sri Lanka has been engulfed by political tragedy as successive governments have failed to settle the grievances of the Tamil minority in a way acceptable to the majority Sinhala population. The new Premadasa presidency faces huge economic and political problems with large sections of the island under the control of the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) and militant separatist Tamil groups operating in the north and south. This book is not a conventional political history of Sri Lanka. Instead, it attempts to shed fresh light on the historical roots of the ethnic crisis and uses a combination of historical and anthropologial evidence to challenge the widely-held belief that the conflict in Sri Lanka is simply the continuation of centuries of animosity between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The authors show how modern ethnic identities have been made and re-made since the colonial period with the war between Tamils and the Sinhala-dominant government accompanied by rhetorical wars over archeological sites and place-name etymologies, and the political use of the national past. The book is also one of the first attempts to focus on local perceptions of the crisis and draws on a broad range of sources, from village fieldwork to newspaper controversies. Its interest extends beyond contemporary politics to history, anthropology and development studies.

Genes, Crops and the Environment

Genes, Crops and the Environment
Author: John H. W. Holden
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1993-06-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780521437370

The productivity of agricultural systems is the result of human alteration of originally wild organisms over millennia. The availability of germplasm, particularly from wild relatives of crop plants, is vitally important in the development of new and improved crops for both agriculture and horticulture. The handling of these genetic resources for both immediate and future human benefits has resulted in the decades of interdisciplinary scientific research described in this book. The applications of this work and the associated operational programmes in all parts of the world are discussed in the light of their impact on the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem rehabilitation and the future health of our planet.

Learning Politics From Sivaram

Learning Politics From Sivaram
Author: Mark Whitaker
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

Remarkable account of the life and impact of the activist, journalist and Tamil freedom-fighter Sivaram Dharmeratnam

Ecological Relationships and Evolution of Rickettsiae

Ecological Relationships and Evolution of Rickettsiae
Author: Nyven J. Marchette
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2018-01-18
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1351088475

This book provides the fundamental basis for a natural classification of the family Rickettsiaceae and perhaps even the order Rickettsiales. It shows how the pathogenic rickettsiae could have evolved in the course of geologic time through a series of evolutionary developments.

India and South Asia

India and South Asia
Author: David Ludden
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2013-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1780741081

A completely revised edition offering insight into the key economic, social and political developments that have shaped both the individual countries of South Asia and region as a whole Combining factual information with a critical approach which probes the nature of culture and identity, this concise yet authoritative account paints a graphic picture of an area stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Himalayan mountains. This new edition surveys nearly 5000 years, from the early settlers of prehistory to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and the Tamil Tiger conflicts. Particular emphasis is placed on the last 200 years, while the key theme of shifting regional identities underpins its insights in to the social, economic and spiritual past of the region.

Faunal and Floral Migration and Evolution in SE Asia-Australasia

Faunal and Floral Migration and Evolution in SE Asia-Australasia
Author: Ian Metcalfe
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2001-06-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9789058093493

This multidisciplinary book focuses on the relationships and interactions between palaeobiogeography, biogeography, dispersal, vicariance, migrations and evolution of organisms in the SE Asia-Australasian region. The book investigates biogeographic links between SE Asia and Australasia which go back more than 500 million years. It also focuses on the links between geological evolution and biological migrations and evolution in the region. It was in the SE Asian region that Alfred Russell Wallace established his biogeographic line, now known as Wallace's Line, which was the beginning of biogeography. Wallace also independently developed his theory of evolution based on his work in this area.;The book brings together, for the first time, geologists, palaeontologists, zoologists, botanists, entomologists, evolutionary biologists and archaeologists, in the one volume, to relate the region's geological past to its present biological peculiarities. The book is organized into six sections. Section 1 Paleobiogeographic Background provides overviews of the geological and tectonic evolution of SE Asia-Australasia, and changing patterns of land and sea for the last 540 million years. Section 2 Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Geology and Biogeography discusses Palaeozoic and Mesozoic biogeography of conodonts, brachiopods, plants, dinosaurs and radiolarians and the recognition of ancient biogeographic boundaries or Wallace Lines in the region. Section 3 Wallace's Line focuses on the biogeographic boundary established by Wallace, including the history of its establishment, its significance to biogeography in general and its applicability in the context of modern biogeography.;Section 4 Plant biogeography and evolution includes discussion on primitive angiosperms, the diaspora of the southern rushes, and environmental, climatic and evolutionary implications of plants and palynomorphs in the region. The biogeography and migration of insects, butterflies, birds, rodents and other non-primate mammals is discussed in section 5, Non Primates. The final section 6 Primates focuses on the biogeographic radiation, migration and evolution of primates and includes papers on the occurrence and migration of early hominids and the requirements for human colonization of Australia.