Wanniyala-Aetto
The
Wanniyala-Aetto ("forest beings") (This is the name they call themselves, the commonly known name is Veddahs) are an indigenous people of
Sri Lanka, an island nation in the
Indian Ocean. Known as "Veddahs" in Sri Lanka's main language,
Sinhalese, they are
hunter-gatherers and have lived in their tropical forest environment for the past eighteen thousand years. They are disappearing rapidly, due to assimilation and the loss of their forest home. Population estimates range from several hundred to a few thousand.