State · 1972 – present
Sri Lanka
A state of 1972 – present — 54 years, still standing in South Asia. It replaced Dominion of Ceylon. The atlas records 17 things within it — wars and battles 2 · unrest and atrocity 4 · famine and plague 1 · people 10. Its line of rulers holds 10 people.
- Still standing: the span runs to the year of the build, 2026.
For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.
- Stood
- 54 years
- and still standing
- Rulers
- 10
- the President of Sri Lanka
- Most ground
- 73,800 km²
- in 1948
- Within it
- 17
- recorded rows
- Symbols
- 2
- on record, with years
Where it sits in time
Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.
Before and after
The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.
Before it
- Dominion of Ceylon · replaces · 1948 – 1972
Rulers
The line of President of Sri Lanka - the office this state names as its head of state.
| Ruler | Reign | Length | How it ended · source | To the ruler before |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| William Gopallawa | 1972 – 1978 | 6 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| J. R. Jayewardene | 1978 – 1989 | 11 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Ranasinghe Premadasa | 1989 – 1993 | 4 years | killedWikidata's manner of death | |
| D. B. Wijetunga | 1993 – 1994 | 1 year | left office aliveread off the dates alone | |
| Chandrika Kumaratunga | 1994 – 2005 | 11 years | ending not on record | |
| Mahinda Rajapaksa | 2005 – 2015 | 10 years | lost an election, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Maithripala Sirisena | 2015 – 2019 | 4 years | resigned or stood down, the article saysread from the ruler's own article | |
| Gotabaya Rajapaksa | 2019 – 2022 | 3 years | ending not on record | |
| Ranil Wickremesinghe | 2022 – 2024 | 2 years | ending not on record | |
| Anura Kumara Dissanayake | 2024 – in office | in office since 2024 | still in office |
10 rulers, 10 with terms dated as terms, covering 1972 – 2024. Median reign 4 years. 1 of 9 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. The violent-handover count is withheld: power changed hands so often that any rising falls beside one (exposure 0.79, limit 0.6). A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.
Heads of government
The line of head of government, drawn and never measured: a cabinet is not a reign.
| Dinesh Gunawardena | 2022 – 2024 |
| Ranil Wickremesinghe | 2022 – 2022 |
| Harini Amarasuriya | 2024 – … |
Ground held, by year
km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.
73,800 km² in 1972, 73,800 km² in 2022; at its largest 73,800 km² in 1972. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.
Flags and arms, in order
Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.
coat of arms, from 1972Emblem of Sri Lanka · Public domain 
flag, from 1972Flag of Sri Lanka · Public domain
What happened within it, by century
Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.
1900 – 199912 rows · 1 wars and battles · 2 risings, regime changes and massacres
- Mahinda Rajapaksa · ruler · 1945 – present
- Chandrika Kumaratunga · ruler · 1945 – present
- Maithripala Sirisena · ruler · 1951 – present
- Ranil Wickremesinghe · ruler · 1949 – present
- Sri Lankan civil war · war · 1983 – 2009
- Gotabaya Rajapaksa · ruler · 1949 – present
- Anura Kumara Dissanayake · ruler · 1968 – present
- J. R. Jayewardene · ruler · 1906 – 1996
and 4 more in the atlas.
2000 – 20994 rows · 1 wars and battles · 2 risings, regime changes and massacres
- 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings · atrocity · 2019
- 2022 Sri Lankan protests · unrest · 2022
- COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka · plague · 2020
- Battle of Kilinochchi · battle · 2008 – 2009
Among all states
Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.
- How long it stood54 years
stood longer than 35% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
- The most ground it held73,800 km²
held more ground at its peak than 39% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
- Wars recorded per century1.0
had more wars on record per century than 94% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
- How long a reign lasted, at the median4 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 13% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
- Rulers on record10
has more rulers on record than 80% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.
What led to it, and what came of it
The investigation's own picture: 6 causes the record names and 0 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.
Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.
Open in the atlas
- On the timeline, 1962 – 2036, with everything that stood beside it.
- On the map in 1948, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
- Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.
Wikidata Q854 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.