Sri Lanka , formerly known as Ceylon, and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia. It is situated on the Indian Ocean,southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and southeast of the Arabian Sea while being separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is its legislative capital, and Colombo is its largest city and financial centre.