On topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the medieval period in the court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Since the beginning of the in the 1980s, it is distinguished by an emphasis on themes relating to the conflict. Are noted for their and retention of words not in everyday use in the state in India. Since Sri Lanka gained from in 1948, relations between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil communities have been strained. Rising ethnic and political tensions, along with in,,, and, led to the formation and strengthening of advocating. The ensuing resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 people and the of thousands of others.
The civil war ended in 2009 but there are continuing being committed by the and the rebel during its final months. A found that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war. The end of the civil war has not improved conditions in Sri Lanka, with press freedom not being restored and the judiciary coming under political control. One-third of Sri Lankan Tamils now live outside Sri Lanka. While there was significant migration during the British colonial period, the civil war led to more than 800,000 Tamils leaving Sri Lanka, and many have for destinations such as Canada, India and Europe as refugees. See also: There is little scholarly consensus over the presence of the Sri Lankan Tamil people in Sri Lanka, also known as in.