On September 24th 2017 the Afro-Sri Lankan community celebrated their 500 year anniversary since the first African ancestors were brought to Sri Lanka by the Portuguese. The event included acting on the stage and singing and dancing watched by hundreds of local people from Puttalam town.<br /> <br /> Out of all communities of African diaspora that surround the Indian Ocean those of Sri Lanka are by far the smallest and most fragile, first brought by the Portuguese, the Dutch and eventually the British as slaves.<br /> <br /> After the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed in the British Parliament in 1807, the process of putting an end to slavery began in British controlled countries. On being emancipated most Africans stayed and a century ago the Afro-Sri Lankan population was believed to be around 6000 people. Today that number has dwindled to less than 500 and are likely to totally disappear in a few generations.
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