500 years ago in 1505 on his way to Maldives, Portuguese sea
captain Lourenco de Almeida got stranded in Ceylon and was received well by the
Sinhalese king Vīra Parăkrama Băhu of Kōtte. Almeida, the son of then Portuguese
Viceroy of India in Cochin saw the commercial and strategic importance of the
island. Portuguese established a contact with the king of Kotte and were
permitted to build a fort at Colombo in 1518. In 1520’s war between the sons of
then king of Kōtte, Vijayabăhu, broke out. With the help of Portuguese,
Bhuanaika Băhu, the oldest son of Vijayabăhu, was able to establish his kingdom
but became greatly dependent upon Portuguese. The successive rulers were even
more dependent upon Portuguese and by the end of the century they were firmly in
control of the island. The rival king of Kandy then sought help from the Dutch
and by the middle of next century they had replaced Portugeuse as the masters of
coastal Ceylon.
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1502 |
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Vasco de Gama reaches Calicut |
1505 |
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Francisco de Almeida named first
viceroy |
1505 |
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Lourenço de Almeida reaches Ceylon |
1518 |
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Portuguese permitted to build a fort at Colombo |
1521 |
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Three sons of Vijayabăhu put him to death |
1543 |
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King Băhu signs treaty with Portuguese for their protection |
1557 |
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Kotte king Dharmapăla coverts to Christianity |
1593 |
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King Rajasinha dies and Portuguese capture much of Kōtte |
1612 |
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King Senarat of Kandy concludes a treaty with Dutch |
1619 |
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Kingdom of Jaffna annexed by Portuguese |
1638 |
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A treaty gives Dutch trade monopoly |
1645 |
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Truce in Europe between Dutch and Portuguese |
1656 |
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Portuguese surrender Colombo to Dutch |
1658 |
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Dutch take Jaffna |
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