Who Are the Tamil Tigers?

According to some ethnic Tamils, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers are daring freedom fighters trying to establish a Tamil homeland, or "Tamil Eelam." According to the governments of Sri Lanka, India, the United States, Canada, Australia, and the member nations of the EU, the Tamil Tigers are terrorists, one of the pioneers of suicide bombing.

But now, after a 30-year fight with the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil Tigers have admitted defeat. Why did the Tamil Tigers cause so much trouble for so long? To find out, let's visit Sri Lanka, the Indian Ocean island Arab sailors once called "Serendip."

The British Called It Ceylon

Sri Lanka is a republic off the tip of India. A little larger than West Virginia, it's home to 21 million people. Around 74 percent are Sinhalese Buddhists, but a significant minority are Tamil Hindus. The ancestors of both have lived on Sri Lanka for millennia. In fact, when Europeans first arrived in the 16th century, the island was divided into multiple kingdoms--some Sinhalese, some Tamil.

After periods of Portuguese and Dutch rule, British colonizers took over the island, which they called "Ceylon," in 1796. The British conquered the last independent Sinhalese kingdom, integrated the island politically, and created coffee, tea, and rubber plantations. Ceylon didn't become an independent nation until 1948. It didn't go by the name Sri Lanka until 1972.

After independence, Sinhalese nationalism emerged as a potent political force. In 1958, a law establishing Sinhala as the nation's only official language sent Tamil protesters into the streets. By the 1970s, some Tamils were demanding a Tamil homeland, or "Tamil Eelam." It didn't help that a new constitution in 1972 neglected to mention minority rights--even as it made Buddhism a protected religion.

The Tamil Tigers Attack

That same year, 18-year-old Velupillai Prabhakaran founded the Tamil New Tigers. In 1976, Prabhakaran's group merged with another small militant group to form the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The Tigers' mission: establish an independent Tamil state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

During the late 1970s, the Tigers robbed banks for funds and conducted a series of small-scale guerrilla attacks. Then, in 1983, they killed 13 Sri Lankan soldiers in an ambush. That sparked anti-Tamil riots across Sri Lanka, which in turn prompted tens of thousands of Tamils to flee the island. Others signed on as Tiger recruits. The Sri Lankan military retaliated, and the nation descended into civil war.

By 1985, the Tigers controlled the northern tip of Sri Lanka. At first, they operated in conjunction with other militant groups. Later, they eliminated their rivals and consolidated their position as the military arm of the movement for Tamil Eelam. In 1987, they established an elite squad of men and women, the "Black Tigers," specially trained for suicide missions and the assassination of enemies.

The Tamil Tigers Admit Defeat

Tens of thousands of people died in the decades-long violence of Sri Lanka's civil war. Finally, in January 2008, the Sri Lankan government began an all-out offensive against Tamil Tiger strongholds. In May 2009, the government declared that it was in control of all of Sri Lanka and that longtime Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was dead. The Tigers confirmed the claim and conceded defeat, saying "This battle has reached its bitter end."

No one knows what comes next. Distrust remains between Sri Lanka's Sinhalese Buddhist majority and Tamil Hindu minority. Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the fighting need aid. Peace may indeed emerge in Sri Lanka, but so could a new generation of Tamil Tigers.