Research Guides: Sri Lanka: History Maps Media

Naga Pooshani Ambal Temple, Nanitevu Island

A Historical Atlas of South Asia
by Joseph E. Schwartzberg, 2nd impression, 1992. Digital South Asia Library
Asian Economic History Series One: The Opium Trade and the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, 1945-48
Butler microforms, 4 reels. Foreign Office Files relating to the Opium Trade and the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. The material is truly international with memoranda, papers and correspondence reflecting activity in Burma, Syria, the Lebanon, Cyprus, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, India and Ceylon, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, the Philippines, North Borneo and Sarawak. See online guide.
Depicting the Sri Lankan vernacular
This collection of original photographs and drawings is drawn from ethnographic research on architecture and traditional domestic life in Sri Lanka, conducted in various periods between 1965 and 2012, by Bonnie and Robert MacDougall. These original images, as well as other visual records, pertain to lifeways and hereditary practices in the Central Highlands, and more particularly to a single remote Sinhala community, Mimure, in the hinterlands of the Kandy District

Indian and Sri Lankan records from colonial missionaries, 1770-1931. This link opens in a new window
The documents in this resource come from the archives of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG). Some are true archives, arising from the work of the Society in India; some are manuscripts which cover the period when the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK), founded in 1698 was working with the Royal Danish (Lutheran) Mission, founded in 1705. They chart the history of Anglican Protestant engagement in the region from shortly after the strategic turning point in the fortunes of the East India Company wrought by Colonel Robert Clive in the 1750s, through to the toppling of Tipu Sultan in 1799, the controversial changes to the EIC's charter in 1813, the Sepoy Rebellion of 1856-1857, and on right through to Partition in 1947. As with the Society's missions elsewhere in the world, the documents also trace the gradual shift that began in the early 19th century from a church dependent on English priests to one increasingly led by indigenous clergy. Accompanied by an online guide to the collection by Isobel Pridmore, formerly the archivist at the USPG, whose archives are now held at Rhodes House Library in Oxford.

Lachlan and Elizabeth Macquerie Archive (LEMA)
An interlocking series of historical websites devoted to examining Lachlan Macquarie's travels, experiences, and achievements in the period 1787-1824. These projects include documentary transcripts, photographs, and research findings associated with Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Middle East, Russia, Denmark and Scotland.
Sri Lanka
Eiu.com country report.
U.S. Department of State--Sri Lanka

For maps and atlases from and depicting multiple regions of South Asia, see:

For multi-country and multi-regional South Asia image repositories see the South Asia Media (Images) guide

For multi-country and multi-regional South Asia video and audio repositories see the South Asia Media (Video) guide