That's right, people, Sri Lanka came by! Officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is an island nation off the southern tip of India that was called Ceylon until 1972. Usually, the quickest way to determine whether a country is democratic is to see if they put the word in the name of the country. If they do, it isn't. That doesn't seem to be the case with Sri Lanka, which is a multi-party democracy with two main parties, one leftist, one conservative. Anyway, about 20 million people live there, about 70 percent of them Buddhist.
Sri Lanka's main claim to fame for a good long while was its long-running rebellion/civil war, with the Tamil Tigers actually controlling a pretty good chunk of the country. The national military finally ended the 30-year rebellion in 2009 by launching a major military push and just whooping up on the Tamil rebels. Not clear why they didn't do that earlier.
For a long time, the civil war limited the appeal of Sri Lanka as a tourist destination. Let's face it, even gorgeous tropical islands are less attractive with a war going on. Since the end of the rebellion, though, Sri Lanka is growing its tourist trade quickly.
So, Sri Lanka, welcome to the Eff You family. Keep coming by, and bring your friends.
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