The concept of a ‘primordial homeland’ has been at the centre of Sri Lanka’s armed struggle, in which both Sinhalese and Tamil nationalisms have used claims of ancient and ethnically determined territories to justify their right to self-determination, territorial sovereignty and armed struggle.

The story of post-colonial Sri Lanka is, in large part, the story of how two groups have interlaced and, in the process, engaged in a 30-year war which saw its end in 2009. In Sri Lanka and the Defeat of the LTTE, K.M. de Silva addresses the history of ethnic tension in Sri Lanka, and presents a case study of the emergence, maturation and eventual collapse of the terrorist organisation the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).