History
It is believed that about the 5th century BCE, settlers from North-Eastern India reached the island of Sri Lanka. According to the chronicle Mahavamsa, the first settlers were Prince Vijaya and his entourage. The settlers merged with the native tribes known as Yakkha and Naga. In the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India-Bengal (Kalinga, Magadha) which led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits.
Read more about this topic: Sinhala Language
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“This above all makes history useful and desirable: it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.”
—Titus Livius (Livy)
“The history of reform is always identical; it is the comparison of the idea with the fact. Our modes of living are not agreeable to our imagination. We suspect they are unworthy. We arraign our daily employments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)