During British rule, large numbers of Tamils from the Madras Presidency were transported to Malaya, Singapore, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Central Sri Lanka, Reunion, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji and Guyana to work as indentured labourers in sugar plantations.
Migration accelerated between the 5th and 14th centuries AD, when the Pallava, Chola and Pandya kings mounted large-scale expeditions to conquer the island.
The migrations rapidly decreased after the attack of the Pandya kingdom by the Delhi Sultanate's Muslim general Malik Kafur in about 1317, though cultural and commercial contact between the southern Tamil Nadu and northern Sri Lanka continued.
Following the conquest of the Kandy kingdom by the East India Company in 1795, the British ruled the island as a part of Madras Presidency till 1803, when a separate administration was set up.
Starting from the middle of the 19th century, the British transported large numbers of Tamils to work as indentured labourers in the hills of central Sri Lanka.