Sri Lanka is an island located just south of India in the Indian Ocean. The terrain is made up of low-lying plains, although there is a mountainous region in the southern part of the island. Because of the tropical location, Sri Lanka experiences an extremely rainy climate, with monsoons in the northeast from December to March and monsoons in the southwest from June to October.
The majority of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese, although a small percentage of the population is also made up of Moors and Tamil. Sinhala is the official language, the other national language being Tamil. Although English is used in the government, only 10% of the population speaks English. Buddhism is the dominant religion practiced by 69% of Sri Lankans, while a small minority practice Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. As Sri Lanka is located in close proximity to major shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, much of the economy consists of exporting goods. More than half of Sri Lanka's exports are textiles and garments. Many Sri Lankans work abroad, mainly in the Middle East.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the island was controlled first by the Portuguese and then the Dutch. Sri Lanka celebrated its independence in 1948 although at that time it was known as Ceylon; it was not known as Sri Lanka until 1972. Beginning in 1983, the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority fought an ethnic war that lasted for more than two decades. Efforts by Norway in 2002 to broker a peace agreement between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in early 2008 were unsuccessful, and the conflict continued until May of 2009, when the government defeated the LTTE, finally bringing resolution to the longstanding unrest.