Lush legacy of the British taste for tea, plantations prosper in the moist hill country. Venturesome Britons created the estates from peasant holdings and jungle 150 years ago, first planting coffee trees but after a blight, switching to tea. They also brought in laborers, Tamil-speaking Hindus from southern India. Since independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has counted on tea, a million pounds a day, as its top money earner. But in the past decade rising import costs have out-placed exports, and the standard of living- once the envy of Asia- has dropped. Elected leaders recently nationalized tea, rubber, and coconut plantations and limited individual holdings to 50 acres. The status of 1.2 million Indian Tamils has been settled. India will accept more than 600,00; the rest will be granted to Sri Lankan citizenship. The 1.6 million Ceylon Tamils already make up the nation’s largest minority. These citizens descend form settlers and invaders who arrived centuries ago to live mainly in the north and east. National Geographic, January 1979