 Most historians believe that the prince Vijaya came to Sri Lanka from Orissa, in north-eastern India, during the 6th century BC (some historians trace the origins back some 25,000 years) and started to rule the native people in Sri Lanka. A nearly continuous written history exists in the book "Mahavamsa" from this point on and it describes the Sinhalese kingdom started from king Vijaya and his followers. It also describes a minister of Vijaya, Anuradha, who establishes the village of Anuradhagamma which later becomes Anuradhapura and becomes the capital of Sri Lanka a few centuries later. Archeological evidence is somewhat contradictory to this account, showing continuous settlement in the Anuradhapura area from the 10th century BC onwards with people living in the area having knowledge of agriculture, metallurgy, and livestock breeding.
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