Sinhala script
Modern Sinhalese first appeared in the 13th century and is marked by the writing of the grammar book Sidat Sangara. In 1736, the Dutch were the first to print with Sinhala type on the island. The resulting type followed the features of the native Sinhala script that was written on palm leaves. The Dutch created type that was the same width throughout the letters (monolinear) with no separation between words in early documents. During the Colonial period, a new style of Sinhala also began to used which was high contrast and had different thicknesses. This high contrast type slowly replaced the monolinear type as the preferred style.