Sri Lanka is a poor independent island country in the Indian ocean, Southwest of the bay of Bengal in South Asia. Its documented history goes back 3 000 years but evidence of prehistoric human settlements date back to at least 125 000 years ago and within the course of its history Sri Lanka has had as many names as of different civilizations ruling it. Already during the antiquity, Sri Lanka was known by several names like Tambapanni, meaning "copper-red earth" given by the l