History and Culture

Factum Perspective: “Avurudhu” in South-East Asia

History and CultureApril 14, 2024460Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Vinod Moonesinghe This year, Sri Lankans celebrate their traditional mid-April Solar New Year amidst controversy. Known to the Sinhalese as Aluth Avurudhu and to the Tamils as Puthandu, the New Year is marked by the transition of the Sun from the constellation Pisces, known in Sanskrit (the language of Indic astrologers) as Meena Rashi,…

Factum Perspective: Promoting Tourism in Sri Lanka – A Way Forward

History and Culture, UncategorizedMarch 10, 2024152Views 1Like 0Comments

By Nithu Ardithya Despite facing formidable challenges in recent years, Sri Lanka's tourism industry is experiencing a remarkable resurgence, signaling a promising future for economic recovery and growth. Tourism constitutes around 5% of the nation's GDP. In 2019, the country welcomed more than 2.5 million visitors, resulting in revenue exceeding USD 4 billion. In April…

Factum Special Perspective: US Foreign Policy and the Creation of Israel

History and Culture, Peace and ConflictDecember 28, 2023492Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Vinod Moonesinghe On November 2, 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote a letter to Lord Rothschild, promising support for the creation of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. A week later, the government made public this Balfour Declaration, making it the first public expression of support for the Zionist cause. This caused concern,…

Factum Special Perspective: Kissinger’s Legacy – Realpolitik and Its Global Consequences

History and Culture, Peace and ConflictDecember 15, 2023153Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Aavin Abeydeera Having passed away at the age of 100, Kissinger’s death was mourned by many, and celebrated by an equally loud number in the international community. Hailed as a hero, and feared as a Machiavellian villain, Kissinger’s legacy is a result of his checkered actions and past, mirroring the State he served so…

Factum Perspective: The Geopolitics of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict

History and Culture, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsNovember 18, 2023352Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Britney Martil A comprehensive assessment of the Azerbaijan-Armenia war over Nagorno-Karabakh uncovers a complex and deeply ingrained geopolitical history in the Caucasus area. Originating in the aftermath of World War I and the subsequent collapse of the Russian Empire, the resultant power vacuum afforded Azerbaijan and Armenia the opportunity to declare their independence. The…

Factum Perspective: When a book by a Mossad Officer led to a Commission of Inquiry in Sri Lanka

History and Culture, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsOctober 15, 2023590Views 1Like 0Comments

By Chandani Kirinde While successive Sri Lankan governments have recognised the right of the Palestinian people to independent statehood, based on relevant United Nations resolutions, its relations with the State of Israel have been less than consistent. Sri Lanka established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, but relations between the two have historically vacillated depending…

Factum Perspective: The “Other” Korea

History and Culture, Peace and Conflict, Regional GeopoliticsAugust 20, 2023475Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Vinod Moonesinghe In North Korea, August 15 is Liberation Day, August 25 Songun Day, and September 9 Foundation Day. The popular picture of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as a prison camp on the brink of collapse may be exaggerated. As the late Pyongyang-based AP journalist Eric Talmadge reported in 2017,…

Factum Special Perspective: Rejuvenating Football in Sri Lanka

History and Culture, Sports DiplomacyAugust 16, 2023693Views 6Likes 1Comment

By Suhas Jayalath Sri Lanka has a growing but relatively small football culture. Widely considered the world’s most famous sport, football has faced its share of challenges in Sri Lanka. The history of Sri Lankan football goes back to the 20th century. Officially it was inaugurated and encouraged by British service members from the Royal…

Factum Perspective: Recovering the Lost Paradise – Utopianism in Modern Sri Lankan Architecture and Landscaping

History and CultureAugust 13, 2023811Views 1Like 1Comment

By Dhanuka Bandara "It is necessary to cultivate our garden.” Voltaire, “Candide” On an artificial island surrounded by the Diyavanna Oya at Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, Sri Lanka, stands the country’s most infamous building, the Parliament Complex. The Complex was designed by arguably Sri Lanka’s most renowned architect of the 20th century, Geoffrey Bawa, built during…

Factum Perspective: An American in Kandy – Julia Child and Sri Lanka

History and CultureJuly 30, 2023517Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Chandani Kirinde Before Julia Child became the world-renowned chef, she had a less glamorous job working for the US government which brought her to Sri Lanka, to serve at the Headquarters of the Southeast Asia Command of the Allied Forces in Kandy in 1944. Then she was Julia McWilliams, a lanky young woman of…

Factum Special Perspective: Kataragama and its multiple meanings

History and CultureJuly 12, 2023481Views 0Likes 0Comments

By Vinod Moonesinghe Historically, Sri Lankans have tended, whatever their faith, to tolerate other faiths. Indeed, to some extent every religion on the island has been influenced by the others. This mystical assimilation is reinforced by the existence of a syncretic system of folk belief underlying the major religions, incorporating a gamut of myths and…

Factum Perspective: A Sri Lankan Huck Finn – Martin Wickramasinghe’s “Madol Doova”

History and CultureJune 18, 2023904Views 1Like 0Comments

Martin Wickramasinghe By Christine Hill Smith With a human history going back to 500 BCE, Sri Lanka has endured and occasionally benefited from over 450 years of European colonization, starting in 1505 with the Portuguese, the Dutch East India Company in 1640, and finally the British in the 1790s. It was colonized for its gemstones, cinnamon,…