No more ‘Slave Island’, it’s ‘Kompanna Vidiya’

Feb 3 (newsin.asia) – Slave-Island will be know as Kompanna Vidiya in English, Sinhala and Tamil from today.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena instructed the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government to make appropriate amendments regarding the use of Kompanna Vidiya instead of Slave-Island.

Accordingly, road signs, postal usage, assessment and names of voters and voters’ registers associated with, Kompagngna Veediya / Kompanna Vidiya, Colombo 2, will be renamed as Kompanna Vidiya / Kompagngna Veediya in Sinhala, Tamil and English since the nomenclature of “Slave Island” used during the colonial period signifies a different meaning.

The name “Slave Island” was coined during the period of British colonial rule and was a reference to the usage of the island under Portuguese rule as a holding area for African slaves, most of them from the Swahili coast and Portuguese East Africa.

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