3. Whilst only abolishing the British monarchy on the island of Sri Lanka, the formal elimination of the crown following independence decades earlier marked an important transition
Accelerated by the Second World War, on February 4, 1948, the Colony of Ceylon achieved independence from the United Kingdom after more than a century of British rule. Becoming an independent country in the Commonwealth of Nations, the Dominion of Ceylon continued nevertheless to share the British monarchy, first George VI and subsequently Elizabeth II, as its head of state. With the election of Sirimavo Bandaranaike in 1960 as the world’s first female elected head of government, Ceylon entered into a period of sustained reform and effort to avoid conflict between the Tamils and Sinhala communities.
Faced with an attempt by the far-left People’s Liberation Front to overthrow the government and institute a communist dictatorship in 1971, the rebellion was suppressed with the assistance of India. Prompting political upheaval, the following year a new constitution was proposed to address the situation. Changing the nation’s name to Sri Lanka, the country formally became a republic, in so doing abolishing the position of the British monarchy within the island country. Failing, however, to end domestic problems, Sri Lanka would endure a twenty-six-year civil war which would cost the lives of more than one hundred thousand.
