Why is Sri Lanka a religiously sensitive area?

Because Sri Lanka is mainly dominated by the opposition between two major religions, namely Buddhism and Hinduism. 67% of the residents believe in Buddhism, and the majority are Sinhalese; 16% believe in Hinduism, and the majority are Tamil, about 2.5 million.

Hindus are mainly divided into two major sects: one is the Shiva sect, which is more powerful; the other is the Vaishnava sect, which is less powerful.

Here is the ethnic conflict between the Sinhala people who believe in Buddhism and the Tamil people who believe in Hinduism. Religious conflict is a secondary manifestation. It is mainly caused by the cultural conflict in the history of the two nations. The difference in religious beliefs is only an external phenomenon.

Whether it is the colonial period or the post-colonial period, the ethnic composition of Sri Lanka is mainly affected by language and religion.

In terms of religion, the Sinhalese people have both Buddhist and Christian identities, but in terms of national self-identity, they all consider themselves Sinhalese. But Sri Lankan Muslims are different.

Historically, the origin of Muslims in Sri Lanka mainly consisted of five population branches, namely Sri Lankan Moors, Indian Moors, Malays, Maimun and Bora people.

To this day, Sri Lankan Moors have become the main group of Muslims in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan Moors originated from Arab traders who came from the Middle East in the 7th century AD. They thrived in eastern Sri Lanka. Their language habits were affected by their living environment and they mainly used Tamil as their daily language.

Although they all speak Tamil, they are unwilling to be defined as Tamils ??and only use "Islam" as a symbol of national identity.

Extended information:

1. The ethnic composition of Sri Lanka’s population:

Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic country with Sinhala, Tamil and Moorish ethnic groups. (Muslim) and other ethnic groups, of which the Sinhalese account for 74.9%, the Tamils ??account for 15.4%, the Moors account for 9.2%, and other ethnic groups account for 0.5%.

In 2012, data released by the Statistics and Data Agency of Sri Lanka showed that the total population of Sri Lanka was 20.33 million. Sri Lanka's population growth rate is 0.7% per year. The population in 2017 was approximately 21.44 million. ?

The population of the Western Province of Sri Lanka accounts for 28.8% of the national population, while the population of the Northern Region accounts for only 5.2% of the national population. Among the major administrative regions, the Colombo region has the largest population of 2,323,824 people, and the northern Mulaitivu region has the least population of 92,527 people. ?

In 2017, the population of Sri Lanka was 21.44 million. Sinhalese account for 74.9%, Tamil 15.4%, Moors 9.2%, and others 0.5%. Sinhala and Tamil are both official and national languages, and English is commonly used in the upper class.

70.2% of the residents believe in Buddhism, 12.6% believe in Hinduism, 9.7% believe in Islam, and 7.4% believe in Catholicism and Christianity.

?

Baidu Encyclopedia-Sri Lanka