Skip to content
Wrobell · CC BY-SA 3.0
Landmark South Asia archaeological

Sigiriya

477 CE – still standing

Ancient rock fortress and palace ruins rising 200m above the Sri Lankan plains

See it on the timeline

Wikipedia

The opening of the article, and a way into the rest of it without leaving the site.

Sigiriya on Wikipedia.

Read the article

Who held this ground

Borders from dated snapshots, up to a century apart; precision varies.

Reconstruction

  1. Before it was built (3000 BCE–400 CE)
  2. Simhala (500 CE–700 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  3. Sinhalese kingdoms (800 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  4. Lambakannas (900 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  5. Chola state (1000 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  6. Cholas (1100 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  7. Chola state (1200 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  8. Sinhalese kingdom (1279 CE–1400 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  9. Sinhalese kingdoms (1492 CE–1500 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  10. Saylan (1530 CE–1600 CE) Border precision: Approximate
  11. Kandy (1650 CE–1800 CE) Border precision: Defined
  12. Ceylon (1815 CE–1960 CE) Border precision: Defined
  13. Sri Lanka (1994 CE–2026 CE) Border precision: Defined
Border precision
  • Defined
  • Approximate

Elsewhere in South Asia at the time

Records whose own span overlaps this one, found by the same test the canvas draws with. The bar under each card is where it sits inside this one.

See the whole view

Landmark · South Asia

Taj Mahal

1632 CE – still standing

Polity · South Asia

Tibet

Attested 1000 CE – 1960 CE

Conflict · South Asia

Naxalite–Maoist Insurgency

1967 CE – 2026 CE

Landmark · South Asia

Taxila

600 BCE – 500 CE

Polity · South Asia

Hindu kingdoms

Attested 500 BCE – 1715 CE

Conflict · South Asia

2025 India–Pakistan Conflict

2025 CE

Landmark · South Asia

Ellora Caves

600 CE – still standing

Polity · South Asia

Simhala

Attested 500 BCE – 700 CE

Dated moments inside this span

Events the timeline places between 477 CE and 2026 CE.

490 CE Kashi Vishwanath Temple 500 CE Colombo 600 CE Ellora Caves 600 CE Boudhanath Stupa 637 CE Potala Palace

And in the rest of the world

Records running through the same years, on the other side of the map.

Chichen Itza Landmark · Americas 600 CE – still standing Ottoman Empire Polity · Europe 1299 CE – 1922 CE Mesoamerican Trade Network Trade route · Americas 1200 BCE – 1521 CE World War I Conflict · Europe 1914 CE – 1918 CE Muhammad Figure · Arabian Peninsula 570 CE – 632 CE Machu Picchu Landmark · Americas 1450 CE – still standing
Image credits 6 pictures from Wikimedia Commons