''Lankadeepa'' was a

Sinhala language Sinhala ( ; , ''siṁhala'', ), sometimes called Sinhalese (), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 milli ...

daily newspaper in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

published by Times of Ceylon Limited (TOCL). It was founded on 29 October 1947 and was published from

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. Initially an evening paper, it became a morning daily on 1 May 1949. In 1966 it had an average net sales of 56,241. It had an average circulation of 57,769 in 1970, 33,751 in 1973 and 14,000 in 1976. TOCL was

nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

by the

Sri Lankan government The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

in August 1977. The state-run TOCL faced financial and labour problems and on 31 January 1985 it and its various publications closed down. Ranjith Wijewardena, chairman of

Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL), also known as Lake House. It publishes three daily, three weekend, five weekly, two monthly and three annual publications in Sinhala, English and Tamil. Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited is ...

(ANCL) before it was nationalised in July 1973, bought the trade names and library of the TOCL publications in 1986. Wijewardena's company,

Wijeya Newspapers Wijeya Newspapers Limited (WNL) is a Sri Lankan media company which publishes a number of national newspapers and magazines. Formerly known as Wijeya Publications Limited, WNL was founded in 1979 by Ranjith Wijewardene, son of media mogul D. R. Wij ...

, subsequently started various newspapers using the names of former TOCL publications. ''

Lankadeepa Lankadeepa ( si, ලංකාදීප) is a daily Sri Lankan Sinhala language newspaper which is owned by Wijeya Newspapers. They were established in 1991. The Chairman of the organisation is Ranjith Wijewardene, the son of D. R. Wijewardena. Th ...

'' started publishing in 1991.

References

1947 establishments in Ceylon Defunct daily newspapers published in Sri Lanka Defunct Sinhala-language newspapers published in Sri Lanka Publications established in 1947 Times of Ceylon Limited {{SriLanka-newspaper-stub