Ethnicity Sinhalese Occupation Academic | Name K. de Role Author | |
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Born 31 December 1931 (age 92) ( 1931-12-31 ) Books A history of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka and the Defeat of, Reaping the Whirlwind, JR Jayewardene of Sri Lan, Managing Ethnic Tensions | ||
Professor Kingsley Muthumuni de Silva is a Sri Lankan academic, historian and author. A former lecturer of history at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya, de Silva has written numerous books on Sri Lankan history including the highly acclaimed A History of Sri Lanka.
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Early life and family
De Silva was born on 31 December 1931. He was educated at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya from where he received a BA degree in history. He later received a Ph.D from the University of London for his research into the social policy of missionary organisations in the mid-19th century.
De Silva is married to Chandra and they have a son Rajiv (Ravi).
Career
After graduation de Silva started teaching at the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. He was made chair of Sri Lanka history at the university in 1969. He held this position until 1995.
De Silva was awarded a D.Litt degree by the University of London in 1991. He founded International Centre for Ethnic Studies in 1982 and served as its chairman and executive-director. He was awarded the 2002 Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in the academic category. De Silva was awarded the Deshamanya title in the 2017 Sri Lankan national honours.
Works
De Silva has written/edited numerous books during his long career.