The Mahavamse account says that one of the Bo Saplings brought across by Sangamiththa Maha theri was placed at the place of arrival. And in accordance with this tradition is the naming of several pieces of land in this area. Close by is Tissa Maluwa or Tissa's place This is now popularly called Tissa Malai but the map issued by the Survey General's Office still carries the old name. In addition the Pillayar temple at Chullipuram has a very ancient Bo Tree in its precincts. When at the request of Mahinda (son of emperor Asoka of India) and the Buddhists of Sri Lanka Sangamitta arrived in Sri Lanka with the Bo-sapling from the tree under the shade of which Lord Buddha received final enlightenment. They landed at Jambukola the present day Sambilithurai near Mathakal.

Also known as Kingdom of Aryacakravarti, of modern northern Sri Lanka came into existence after the invasion of Magha, who is said to have been from Kalinga, in India. It eventually became a tribute paying feudatory of the Pandyan Empire in modern South India in 1250, but later become independent with the fragmentation of the Pandyan control. For a brief period, in the early to middle fourteenth century, it was an ascendant power in the island of Sri Lanka when all regional kingdoms accepted subordination.

The arrival of the Portuguese colonial power to the island of Sri Lanka in 1505, and its strategic location in the Palk Strait connecting all interior Sinhalese kingdoms to South India, created political problems.

Many of its kings confronted and ultimately made peace with the Portuguese colonials. In 1617, Cankili II, an usurper to the throne, confronted the Portuguese but was defeated, thus bringing the kingdom’s independent existence to an end in 1619.

According to Ibn Batuta, a traveling Moroccan historian of note, by 1344, the kingdom had two capitals: one in Nallur in the north and the other in Putalam in the west during the pearling season.

In its original form, genealogy was mainly concerned with the kinship and descent of rulers and nobles, often arguing or demonstrating the legitimacy of claims to wealth and power. The term often overlapped with heraldry, in which the ancestry of royalty was reflected in their coats of arms.

In modern times, genealogy became more widespread, with many older families researching and maintaining their family trees. With the advent of the Internet, the number of resources readily accessible by genealogists has vastly increased, resulting in an explosion of interest in the topic. The Internet has also become not only a major source of data for genealogists, but also of education and communication. According to some sources, genealogy is one of the most popular topics on the Internet.

The "thombu" were official documents which were used to record residents of a city or village and to record the ownership and transfer of lands during Dutch times. However the Head Thombu and Land Thombu for Jaffna were only adopted as correct in and around 1820. The original Ola Leaf documents were thereafter transported to Nuwara-Eliya for safekeeping, sadly many have perished due to lack of proper protective storage.