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.