Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese Ceylon Ceilão Português (Portuguese) පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව (Sinhala) pṛtugīsi laṁkāva போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை (Tamil) Pōrttukkēya ilaṅkai
1597[1]–1658
Flag Coat of arms
Portuguese Ceylon 1560-1565 Portuguese Ceylon 1597-1619 Portuguese Ceylon 1619-1638 Portuguese Ceylon 1638-1656 Portuguese Ceylon 1656-1658 Territorial evolution of Portuguese Ceylon
Status	Colony of Portugal
Capital	Colombo
Common languages	Portuguese (official) Sinhala Tamil
Religion	Roman Catholicism
King of Portugal
• 1597–1598	Philip I
• 1598–1621	Philip II
• 1621–1640	Philip III
• 1640–1656	John IV
• 1656–1658	Afonso VI
Captain-General
• 1597–1614	Jerónimo de Azevedo
• 1656–1658	António de Amaral de Meneses
History
• Portuguese arrival	1505
• Death of Dharmapala of Kotte	27 May 1597[2]
• Luso–Kandyan Treaty	1633
• Fall of Jaffna	June 1658
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Kotte Kingdom of Jaffna Kingdom of Sitawaka Dutch Ceylon

Portuguese Ceylon (Portuguese: Ceilão Português; Sinhala: පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව; Tamil: போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை) was the territory on Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka, controlled by the Portuguese Empire between 1597 and 1658.

Portuguese presence in the island lasted from 1505 to 1658. Their arrival was largely accidental, and the Portuguese sought control of commerce, rather than territory. The Portuguese were later drawn into the internal politics of the island with the political upheaval of the Wijayaba Kollaya, and used these internal divisions to their advantage during the Sinhalese–Portuguese wars, first in an attempt to control the production of valuable cinnamon and later of the entire island. Direct Portuguese rule did not begin until after the death of Dharmapala of Kotte, who died without an heir, and had bequeathed the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese monarch in 1580.^[3] That allowed the Portuguese sufficient claim to the Kingdom of Kotte upon Dharmapala's death in 1597. Portuguese rule began with much resistance by the local population.^[4]

Eventually, the Kingdom of Kandy sought help from the Dutch East India Company, with whom they initially entered into agreement. In the Dutch–Portuguese War, the Dutch conquered of most of Portugal's Asian colonies, including Ceylon, between 1638 and 1658.

Part of a series on the
History of Kandy
Kingdom of Kandy (1469–1815)
Founding Sinhalese–Portuguese War Kandyan Treaty of 1638 Portuguese Ceylon Treaty of Batticaloa Anglo-Kandyan Wars
Colonial Kandy (1815–1948)
Kandyan Convention Matale rebellion South East Asia Command
Kandy (1948–present)
Modern Kandy
See also
An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon List of Kandyan monarchs History of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka portal

See also

• List of captain-generals of Portuguese Ceylon
• Sinhalese–Portuguese conflicts
• Portuguese India
• Dutch Ceylon
• British Ceylon
• Sri Lankan Kaffirs

References

Sources

• De Silva, K. M. (1981). A History of Sri Lanka. India: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04320-0.
• C. Gaston Pereira, Kandy fights the Portuguese. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, July 2007. ISBN 978-955-1266-77-6
• Channa Wicremasekera, Kandy at War. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2004. ISBN 955-8095-52-4
• Michael Roberts, Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2004. ISBN 955-8095-31-1,
• Abeysinghe, Tikiri (2005). Jaffna under the Portuguese. Colombo: Stamford Lake. p. 66. ISBN 955-1131-70-1 {{isbn}}: ignored ISBN errors (link).
• Kunarasa, K (2003). The Jaffna Dynasty. Johor Bahru: Dynasty of Jaffna King’s Historical Society. p. 122. ISBN 955-8455-00-8.
• Gnanaprakasar, Swamy (2003). A Critical History of Jaffna (review of Yalpana Vaipava Malai). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 122. ISBN 81-206-1686-3.
• Senaka Weeraratna, Repression of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese (1505 - 1658)

External links

• Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505–1658, y Paulus Edward Pieris (American Ceylon Mission Press, 1920)
• Portuguese History in Ceylon

2°11′20″N 102°23′4″E / 2.18889°N 102.38444°E / 2.18889; 102.38444