History of Ceylon, Volume III: From the Beginning of the 19th Century to 1948

The volume is organized into four major parts. Part I covers the transition from Dutch and Kandyan rule to British domination, including the coming of the British, the last phase of the Kandyan kingdom, administrative development from 1802 to 1832, economic and social developments under British rule, religion and the state, and the Colebrooke-Cameron reforms. Part II examines the nineteenth century in depth, including export agriculture, land problems and policies, the agrarian economy, education and social change, religion and politics, administration, the Legislative Council, and the early currents of nationalism. Part III turns to wider structural and social developments from the nineteenth into the twentieth century, covering elite formation, demographic change, transportation, justice, language, and literature. Part IV studies the constitutional and nationalist transformation of the twentieth century, including reforms from 1910 to 1947, bureaucracy, economic development, land policy, peasant colonization, education policy, welfare policy, and the final transfer of power in 1948. Overall, the volume presents modern Ceylon as a colonial society transformed by British administration, plantation economy, social reform, education, religious change, nationalist politics, and institutional transition toward independence.