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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
The British took control of the island of Ceylon in 1815. (It was renamed Sri Lanka in 1972 when the nation became a republic.) They brought in Tamil workers from India to work on tea, coffee and coconut plantations. The British colonial rulers gave preferential treatment to the Tamil minority. The Sinhalese majority assumed power after independence in 1948 and instituted nationalist policies that antagonized many Tamils. (The predominately Hindu Tamils represent less than 10 percent...