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Revision as of 09:26, 25 January 2005 by Viriditas (talk | contribs) ({{ethno-stub}})(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Sinhalese are the majority ethnic group of Sri Lanka, who probably came from Northern India. They speak Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language. According to legend, they may have descended from King Vijaya and his party of several hundred that set foot on the island around 500 BC.
They are generally considered to be a Caucasoid race, but display some traits of their Dravidian neighbours (Australoid with strong Caucasoid traits), possibly due to assimilation of Tamils
Most of the Sinhalese are Buddhists. Some have migrated to the Maldives.
They've been having conflicts with the Tamils in recent years (see Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka).
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