Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese Ceylon (Portuguese: Ceilão Português; Sinhala: පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව, romanized: Puruthugisi Lankawa; Tamil: போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை, romanized: Porthukeya Ilankai) is the name given to the territory on Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka, controlled by the Portuguese Empire between 1597 and 1658.

Portuguese Ceylon Ceilão Português (Portuguese) පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව (Sinhala) போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை (Tamil)
1597[1]–1658
Flag Coat of arms
After the death of King Dharmapala (1597)   Portuguese Ceylon at its greatest extent 1594–1619
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
Historical era	Colonialism
• Portuguese arrival	1505
• Death of Dharmapala of Kotte	27 May 1597[2]
• Luso–Kandyan Treaty	1633
• Surrender of Jaffna	June 1658
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Kotte Kingdom of Jaffna Dutch Ceylon

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 War, 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. After the collapse of the Iberian economy in 1627, the Dutch–Portuguese War saw the Dutch conquest of most of Portugal's Asian colonies – Ceylon included, between 1638 and 1658. Nevertheless, elements of Portuguese culture from this colonial period remain in Sri Lanka.

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 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