Social Structure of Sri Lanka - Late 19th Century

Late 19th Century

By the late 19th century the upper class natives of Ceylon (called Ceylonese by the British) formed a second class group in their own land, serving their colonial masters. The finest example of this would be the famous second class and third class carriages use by the Ceylonese on the trains due to the first was reserved only for Europeans. This upper class of Ceylonese derived their wealth from land holdings that were passed down the generations and derived their power from severing in posts in the British colonial administration. At first these were limited to post special posts reserved for natives such as Rate Mahattaya in the central highlands and the Mudaliyars in the coastal areas, letter as new generation of these native chieftains grew up educated in the Christian missionary schools, public schools modeled after their English counterparts and at British Universities they were taken in to the prestigious Ceylon Civil Service, others took up places in the Legislative and later the State councils. Entering into this upper class were successful merchants who gained wealth in the lucrative mining industry of the time.

A middle class emerged at this period of a bourgeois people who gained their status by Professions or by Business.