Tropical Ceylon 1932

[307anuradha]

@gatheringleaves, So true being a Sri Lankan I really value your comment, it is sad yes indeed, our people try to act western, they think thats the style and nothing else..

[Shyam30041963]

This is great video clip to see!

[goombabear]

I cannot believe they showed naked babies and children.

[england32771]

HOW CAN A SRI LANKAN WITH LONG HAIR BE FEMININE? RACIST VIDEO?

[geethike]

Pudgy little brown body...RACIST!

[nimalian]

Perfectly said

[BedStuyBro]

So much beauty and purity destroyed by white people.

[slcricket01]

SL looked beautiful back in the day :)

Check out my profile if u r Sri lankan for:

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Guaruanteed to make u feel PROUD to be Sri Lankan !!

[Tomstered]

Sri Lanka are Apart of Cambodia

[Anavengertg]

@Tomstered Lol where'd you get that from?

[Tomstered]

Well why dont u look at the Writting is the same style srilanka and Cambodia have the same style of writing and Alphabet

[Anavengertg]

@Tomstered Lol they're totally different.

[yani147]

@Tomstered tht's becoz both countries practicse budhism and budhism has written in Sanskrit and Pali.Those languages consider as dead languages by now.But the originality of letters and language derived from pali and sanskrit.so countries practicse budhism has similarites coz of budism

[pragzter]

Thanks for the upload! :)

[NickVenture1]

Even if some parts of the old fashioned style commentary would today be formulated differently, we should consider this documentary as a kind piece of cinematographic art of its particular time, reflecting admiration for the civilization and people of Ceylon. For sure its a kind of joke to hear that just because of his hairstyle the "average singhalese man is difficult to be distinguished from the female". Europeans also had long hair in the 18th century and VOC colonial days..

[donjah]

whereever the white colonisers went -be it Africa, South America, Asia- all they did was to kill off the existing way of life, introduce foreign crops to the country which they could benefit from, loot and pillage the resources of the country, rape women and children, kill men and boys who rebelled; generally speaking bastardise these beautiful countries. Who really are the savages? who really are the great uncivilised? and it seems to be happening all over again in a different guise.

[amzakei]

@donjah - That's an incredibly simplistic view of world history. Who lived in the island of Sri Lanka before the Brits, Singhalese and Tamils? The vedda. And a few are living on here still. But that doesn't fit your world view of wicked white people doing unspeakable things to black and brown people.

[deerslayer110]

our ancients.....our sinhala people.......in 1935...amazing.....

[0777767848]

love u lankaaaa

[RamsyK78]

Tamil land is tamilnadu who is ediot next time we wil finish all of them

[krisachar]

Fentastic Footage and i like this video...

Thanks,

Kris.

[sain7150]

yeah buddist ppl r sooooo selfish n want to eat everything.......don't worry still de war is not over tamil will get their land

[amilaw]

@sain7150, Have u ever been 2 school and had primary education

[sain7150]

@amilaw don't tell me primary and secondary

[rscperera]

@sain7150

tamils will get their country cause we have a good army ,but LTTE will not get any thing .NOW the war is over ,piss off you bitch.

[imalij]

@sain7150 hahahahaaa dream on!!!!!!!!!

[philjquitt]

I was there as a child, and been back since. Ceylon may well have been a tropical paradise, but does not match that description now. It has enormous problems with population density, pollution, westernization, ethnic conflict, soil erosion. Local tour guides tend to overstate the island's virtues, as tour guides will. There are not massive waterfalls - just nice ones. There are not high mountains - just nice ones. I loved the the footage of the Dutch canals, which thesedays are clogged.

[ragabonds]

Not to mention the lack of information in the video about the past Kings and Queens that existed in the Ancient Sri Lankan Civilisation that had trade links as far as China. The Chinese have said, in that time, that the boats of Sri Lanka docked in their harbours were one of the biggest.

[ragabonds]

Wow, the amount of misunderstanding back then by the westerners about our cultures and religions. It's more disbelief and shock on their parts about the differences. Relative, our way is-betterism.

[Fesumien]

this is extremely biased towards the british

[SuperRoyalist]

Cant believe the population then was only 5 million and now it is 21 million. This despite mass emigration, a good family planning program not to mention all the deaths due to conflicts. I guess people are living longer now. It must have been so much more spacious. I didnt buy the kids in loin cloths I think that was purely for the camera.

[Sufibooks]

Blame it on the Brits

[Sufibooks]

Wonderful look at old Ceylon but there was no mention of the 25% minority population ??

[mesha89]

more like 8% of the population

[hiranak]

So the British were discriminating against tamils???? hahahahahahaha

[dileepax]

minority WHO?

[B12N]

Ceylon was a great country. But after 1948 some racist sinhalese came to power and destroyed the country killing hundreds of thousands of tamils. Currently abt 300,000 Tamils are detained in barberdwired camps by the Sri Lankan Army.

[mesha89]

oh yes. and tamils did nothing. they didnt form any terrorist group. they didnt kill thousands of sinhala. they are all innocent :)

[B12N]

What do you expect then? Violent always result in more violent.

[hiranak]

Tamils wanted another country!! why the diaspora come and fight and jus fund the killing of innocent tamils leaving in SL!!

[B12N]

Tamils first wanted equal rights! Read some history.

[farhatworld]

this is realy great that somebody made this movie in 1932,,,amazing

[007deMafia]

natives of ceylon! i like that. then i am a native of sri lanka

[ajithchitra]

donddryk realy budist killes tamils for 30 years

[vmdave]

great video..love to watch it...

[chrisappleford]

brilliant how he refers to the people and animals as 'this little fellow'

[politicalanomaly]

Ive always wanted to see India

I'm American :)

[MaleAdaptor]

India is a different country!

[donddryk]

I have nothing to say..because I'm a Srilankan...I live in here....I love this free, simple and comfortable life style.....These all came with The Buddism...NO argument about it..!

[dillo161]

I LOVE SRI LANKA!

[saphalee]

@dillo161 come over here!!! we LOVE tourists!!!

[nuaurea]

it's so cute that kids are running around with tanga's.i love it..i have so many sri lankan friends and they are very charming people.

[amilagalappatthi]

Sri Lanka is a true paradise. You should come and see. Breath taking Beaches, Waterfalls, Jungles, Mountains, Blue skies, Rivers, Islands, Willife, Underwater, 3000 years old forts, palaces, Buddhism... all in one!

[maxwellreid]

i turned the sound off and loved it

[madurankuliya]

not just beautifull also powerfull, in hystory to until now lot of powerfulls wars.

[everanju]

Nice & rare footage's.... but who ever that guy who speaks about SL doesn't know a damn thing about Sri Lanka or it history. I feel sorry for these westerners...

[SFCSILVA]

Sri Lankans did not originate from India. The animals pulling the carts are called bulls mate not buffalows. The children in Ceylon did not go around in loin clothes for over 3000 years. Do not insult a well established culture. Just who are you to upload such lies

[amilagalappatthi]

Very correct. People have to be very careful when write things.

[cynkilla]

You need to study the history of Sri Lanka first.

[SFCSILVA]

Such lies. Our generations were born and brought up in Ceylon. How did you come up with such lies. There must be a law to prevent lies like this about a soverign country

[SFCSILVA]

My dad was born in Ceylon in late 1910 and my grand dad prior to that in 1880 and we have never seen or been aware of such lies. Ceylons culture was developed before the west. There must be a law to prevent small minded liers like you uploading wrong information about a soverign country

[sunderav]

very nice

[Maithriya]

Thank you for sharing this video

[dileepax]

Brilliant work

[reventonmax8]

thats my country :D

[theriluvsinme]

this is bloody brilliant!

[randimapss]

Thanks for updating the video...

[zenforaday]

when the war started - this was what we lost

[kandylankan]

that is soo true

[gampolaya]

its well known fact that westerners screwed up our cultural and moral values.

[jillball]

My great grandfather, who was a British migrant, established coconut plantations in North West of Sri Lanka in 1880's. Not all wqesterners were that bad.

[kotugirl]

Travel film archive that posted the video has said in its website to remember that most of these videos are about 75 years old and reflect the colonial attitudes of the time, which we may object to now. Afterall during Victorian England women and children were supposed to 'belong' to the men as if they were slaves -which too we dont accept now. Lets enjoy everything -the pictures and the understanding of how it was to really live then -despite the unspoilt natural surroundings!!

[shottte]

that lake is gin oya in negombo 1932 its butifull

[kumagai1943]

you are wrong that is hamilton canal start from wattala Elakanda go to puttlam

[McCainTheTurdburglar]

What are the most beautiful parts of Sri Lanka. If I were to visit there what are the things that would take my breath away.

[titanflesh65]

i'd go to trincomalee, if you're looking for a beach area. telewakelee is also very nice..it's a village where a lot of tea is collected. really nice!

[McCainTheTurdburglar]

Thanks. I'll look them up!

[silverdiablo7]

try Hikkaduwa beach and also the Dambulla and sigiriya areas

[dileepax]

Go to Fort Maning market, Panchikawathe, Maligawathe and Bera lake. It will take your breath away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CorollaSEL]

Good One!!!

[SinhaHelaya]

Mate, you should really go to Arugam Bay too. It's on the south-east coast and absolutely breath-taking. Don't forget your surfboard!

[AllCeylon]

Thank you for this video.

[gatheringleaves]

I would have loved to travel around the world during this time period before everything went down the drain. I just think it's sad that most traditional cultures are becoming more like the west. Great Video!

[pakistansportslk]

@gatheringleaves haha i always tell my frnds and they think a am acting childish but the truth is v r deviating from our actual way of life which vev been doing throught evolution till now being huntergatherers and we r programed in our jeans to do so but all of a sudden we have been fixed into these concrete jungles bdw i am from ceylon

[niecytheboss]

@gatheringleaves so true I'm American and love to travel to other countries because the culture language values way of living is so different, but they are losing much beautiful traditions because they look up to us, so sad, hope they keep your beautiful country the way it is dont westernize it! the worse is when i see Mc Donalds in other countries, and their great music turned into rap...rap music! come on it's not cool, America is not what it use to be either! everyone should stay unique

[butterflyZx4]

@niecytheboss every country IS unique & they DO KEEP their cultures intact. just bcoz we have McDonald's our country doesn't EVER mean we are becoming a westernized world, y? should we only eat from our local cuisine. yea, we have rap music, bcoz it's cool & we love great artists from across the globe. the whole world is changing, even Sri Lanka, u should visit SL and see 4 urself our culture (its not western). btw I'm a Sri Lankan..

[butterflyZx4]

@niecytheboss i was not trying to diss u, but u should make ur comment clear, coz its sounds ur telling us to remain the same. bcoz we were very poor and undeveloped b4, so it sounds offensive when u say we should remain the same...just 4 u foreigners to come and see how DIFFERENT we r. we have a right to develop and enjoy other countries cultures too, like urs!! u should b happy about it!!

[locatebob]

"It's difficult to distinguish the average Sinhalese man from the opposite sex??? The commentator is either blind or plain stupid"

What a shame we are reduced to relying on the "either blind or plain stupid" White man to catch this immortal glimpse of daily life in Ceylon in 1932.

Please post a site where we can be exposed to the "either insightful or plain brilliant" glimpses of foreign lands that were created and left to us by Sinhalese men in 1932.

[wishwacom]

thx a lot i m a sri lankan i m proud of this vodeo

[lakmin21]

nice vedeo i like this thanks

[vakist]

To mistake a brown skinned native man for a woman, just because he wore his hair in knot, is as funny as saying that all Scotsmen wearing Kilts are feminine! Those Sinhalese men in the film looked more masculine than the average long haired white man wearing earrings today. Not to forget the many men who pause to kiss and fight to get married!!

[hareshperera200898]

Damn true!! Well said

[nipun2222]

thank u putting this up.... but i have we dont plan on going extinct ....hahah

[amila2006]

narrator of this clip is Irish man.Brits do not like Irish the same way they do not like us Then...

So simple life then

[sailordoc2007]

"It's difficult to distinguish the average Sinhalese man from the opposite sex"??? The commentator is either blind or plain stupid to say something as daft as that. I've watched most of the videos on this archive and almost without exception, the narration and potrayal of Eastern, African or Polynesian cultures is alternately either facetious or patronising throughout

[STVR1]

The sinhalese men in the videos have long hair and are wearing thongs and you don't think that makes them look like women? They still use the same names for males and females by the way. So yes, they are efferminate.

[SE4NPS]

4.48 lol

[SE4NPS]

Excellent! wish we could go back to traditional Sri Lanka before it was Westernised

[SLboycricket]

Awesome footage of that era. Really great and amazing to see those days great Ceylon aka SriLanka.

[dearbosie1]

The racism is hilarious! This is an Orientalist masterpiece!

[NaveenAsphalt]

ok ok guys lets not make this a ethnic war ok! and i personally dnt believe v have a problem with tamil people in sl...wot we DO have is terrorist problem... kk enough f this!!! lets talk trash bout this video man!!!! :D :D :D

nirvana = extinct??? LOL... wot a dumb a**!!!

[Looserdew]

Well said!

[gerdes01]

And dont forget the Tamils crimes against Ceylon.

[MahasohonBrigade]

WONDERFULL....................

it so beautiful ..to see our homeland ...

in this period NO TAMIL PROBLEM ..no tamil terrorism.

[sorcerer12]

Brilliant!!!

[braze2006]

just amazing..we need more videos like this..wow how times have changed..

[eroaero]

Its really good see such a vidoeo like this. But there is something which i need to clarify, Wts the efinition of a civilisation. According to my knowledge cylon was a civilised nation before the english migration. They had a proper structure in both polilical and relegioes aspects. Bt y do they say natives were civilised after english migration. This is a completely wrong phenomina.!

[travelfilmarchive]

Your comment is correct. Quite often the narration for travelogues from this period are very Euro-centric, full of inaccuracies and mis-information and even quite racist.

[islandcricket]

Great video vintage stuff and typical of this era. Thank you for sharing!

[lumalive]

@eroaero - Then known as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) also had the best irrigation system that was destroyed by those Western land robbers. Ceylon was long before a civilized nation when those Westeners were living in the jungles sark naked.

[spiderberlin]

I am totally inspired. Do they have even more old films about Sri Lanka? Just nicely !!!!