South Africa – Sri Lanka relations refers to the current and historical relations between

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and Sri Lanka. The Government of South Africa established its resident diplomatic mission in

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 m ...

in September 2007. HE Sirisena Amarasekara is the current Sri Lankan High Commissioner to South Africa while HE Ms RP Marks is the current South African High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. Both countries are members of the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

History

Both countries of South Africa and Sri Lanka were part of the Dutch and British Empires. Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was a Dutch colony from 1658 - 1796 and a British colony from 1815 - 1948 while South Africa (mainly the

Dutch Cape colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie) was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) colony in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original colony and its successive states that the colony was inco ...

) was a Dutch colony from 1652 - 1806 and a British colony (including other parts of South Africa) from 1806 - 1910. The relations of both South Africa and Ceylon would have happened during the two periods of colonialism. During the Dutch colonial period in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch brought slaves from Ceylon. The slaves got there from voyages sponsored by the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

(VOC) where they sent slave ships from the Cape which their 'return' fleet sailed from Ceylon, the Dutch East Indies and back to the Netherlands and those fleets would stop at the Cape on their way home. The Ceylonese who went on these fleets came as personal slaves. In the early 18th century, majority of the slaves in the Cape were from India and Ceylon. The slaves mixed in with the population and the descendants could be seen with the Cape Malays and

Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African ethnic group consisted primarily of persons of mixed race and Khoisan descent. Although Coloureds form a minority group within South Africa, they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape ...

. Sri Lanka established diplomatic relations on 12 September 1994 following the end of

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

and the election of Nelson Mandela to the new Government of South Africa of its post Apartheid period.

High level visits

The President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, visited Sri Lanka to participate in the

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2013 The 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM; ) was the 23rd Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations. It was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 15 to 17 November 2013. Commonwealth leaders agreed on Sri Lanka a ...

. The President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, visited South Africa in December 2013 to participate in the funeral of former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.

References

External links

Sri Lankan High Commission in South Africa
Sri Lanka Bilateral relations of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka and the Commonwealth of Nations Sri Lanka {{Bilateralrelations-stub