| Chapter No. | Chapter Title | Chapter Author | Page No. |
| Introduction | | |
| Prehistory | | 1 |
| Paleolithic Period; Mesolithic Period; | | |
| Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods; Early Iron Age; | | |
| Veddas and Nagas | | |
| Background | | 6 |
| Sources of Sri Lankan History; Origins; | | |
| South Indian background in ancient times; | | |
| The Land and its name | | |
| Early Settlement Period | | 23 |
| Traditional history; Recent theory; | | |
| Epigraphical evidence; A realistic view; | | |
| Dravidian influence | | |
| Early Settlement Rulers | | 29 |
| Early Anuradhapura Period | | 32 |
| Development of the Sinhalese kingdom; | | |
| Weakness in the structure | | |
| Early Anuradhapura Rulers | | 41 |
| Administration | | 57 |
| Administrative structure; Clans and royal succession; | | |
| Taxation, grants and service; Irrigation; | | |
| Economy and warfare | | |
| Society | | 64 |
| The Village; Strata; Religion; | | |
| Ancient art and architecture; | | |
| Language and Literature | | |
| Late Anuradhapura Period | | 73 |
| Relationships with other countries; Religious events; | | |
| Art and medicine; Collapse of the Lambakarna dynasty; | | |
| Sigiriya; Christian kings; A period of dynastic instability | | |
| A period of relative stability; Pandyan invasion; | | |
| Cola invasions and the downfall of Anuradhapura. | | |
| Late Anuradhapura Rulers | | 84 |
| Polonnaruwa Period | | 108 |
| Cola occupation; Restoration of Sinhalese power; | | |
| Period of anarchy; An Indian summer; | | |
| Collapse of Polonnaruwa; Foreign relatios; | | |
| Trade, religion and culture; Demise of Rajarata | | |
| Polonnaruwa Rulers | | 118 |
| Fragmentation Period | | 126 |
| Renuciation of Rajarata; Consequences of decline; | | |
| A brief resurgence; Trade, religion and culture; | | |
| The situation when the Portuguese arrived; | | |
| The kingdom of Jaffna. | | |
| Fragmentation Period Rulers | | 140 |
| Portuguese Period | | 147 |
| Development of Portugal; | | |
| Portuguese intentions in Sri Lanka; Sri Lankan disunity; | | |
| Struggle for the Kotte succession; | | |
| Portuguese seizure of the Jaffna kingdom; | | |
| The volatile kingdom of Sitavaka; | | |
| Administration, trade, religion and culture. | | |
| Portuguese Perid Rulers | | 174 |
| Dutch Period | | 175 |
| The Dutch in their own country; | | |
| Dutch strategy; Dutch policy in Jaffna; | | |
| The Kandyan kingdom and the Nayakkars; | | |
| Kandyan administation and society; | | |
| Dutch administration and its legacy; | | |
| Trade and economy; | | |
| Society, religion, education, art and literature; | | |
| The final chapter of Dutch rule. | | |
| Kings of Kandy during Dutch and Birtish Periods | | 207 |
| British Period | | 208 |
| Biritsh background; | | |
| British dominance; The final years of the Kandyan kingdom; | | |
| Foundations of British colinial rule; | | |
| Coffee stimulates the economy; Constitutional stasis | | |
| Early constitutional reform; Representative government; | | |
| The road to independence; | | |
| The cultivation of tea and rubber; peasant agriuculutre; | | |
| British administration; The Second World War; | | |
| Social change, ethnic and communal awareness; | | |
| Education and religion. | | |
| The Post- Colonial Period | | 275 |
| A semblance of stability; The opening of Pandora's box; | | |
| Confrontation and ecocnomic stress; | | |
| The evolution of an autocratic regime; | | |
| A free and righteous society? | | |
| A vortex of violence; Indo-Sri Lankan Accord; | | |
| Massacres and asassinations; | | |
| A tactical peace offensive and its aftermath; | | |
| Impasse; Scope for limited optimism; | | |
| Reluctant negotiations; | | |
| Tsunami, a disaster beyond belief | | |
