The island of Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon) became a focus of European attention soon after the Portuguese entry into the Indian Ocean in the late 15th century. Large swaths of the island would come first under Portuguese control, then Dutch and English. Sri Lanka would be under European control for almost four and a half centuries until it received its independence from Great Britain in 1948.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original content at https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2064/european-discovery--conquest-of-sri-lanka/.