Who Are the Tamil Tigers?
According to some ethnic Tamils, Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers are daring freedom fighters trying to establish a Tamil homeland, or “Tamil Eelam.” According to the governments of Sri Lanka, India, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the member nations of the EU, the Tamil Tigers are terrorists, one of the pioneers of suicide bombing. But now, after a 30-year fight with the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil Tigers have admitted defeat. Why did the Tamil Tigers cause so much trouble for so long? To find out, let’s visit Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean island Arab sailors once called “Serendip.” The British Called It Ceylon Sri Lanka is a republic off the tip of India. A little larger than West Virginia, it’s home to 21 million people. Around 74 percent are Sinhalese Buddhists, but a significant minority are Tamil Hindus. The ancestors of both have lived on Sri Lanka for millennia. In fact, when Europeans first arrived in the 16th century, the island was divided into multiple kingdoms–some S
