PEARL OF THE ORIENT

Theancient mariners of Greece could not say “Tambapanni”, as she was then called. So they called her “Taprobane”. The seafarers of old Arabia called her “serendib”, a state of mind known as serendipity. Latter day adventurers came up with the nickname, “Pearl of the Orient“.
      Butperhaps the romantics best summed up the shape and substance of this unique island when they called it “The Teardrop of India”. For if the face of the great Indian subcontinent had ever shed a tear of joy, one which froze in mid-air as it fell from her chin, the teardrop would undoubtedly have become the island of Sri Lanka.
      Srilanka shimmers in the blue expanse of the Indian Ocean, sharing the same continental shelf as India. In fact , it is a mere 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the subcontinent to Sri Lanka’s northernmost extremity, Point Pedro. The island occupies a spot on the worlds maps that stretches roughly from 6 to 10 degrees North latitude and from 80 to 82 degrees East Longitude. It’s 270 miles in length and 140 miles in width at its brodest point , a total land area of 25,332 squre miles.