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Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese-controlled kingdom in Asia, 16th–17th century

Summary

Portuguese-controlled kingdom in Asia, 16th–17th century

Field	Value
native_name	pt
si
pṛtugīsi laṁkāva
ta
Pōrttukkēya ilaṅkai
conventional_long_name	Portuguese Ceylon
common_name	Ceilão Português
era	Colonialism
status	Colony of Portugal
status_text
empire	Portugal
government_type
<!-- only fill in the start/end event entry if a specific article exists. Don't just say "abolition" or "declaration"-->	event_start	Death of Dharmapala of Kotte
date_start	27 May
year_start	1597
event_end	Surrender of Jaffna
date_end	June
year_end	1658
event1	Luso–Kandyan Treaty
date_event1	1633
event_pre	Portuguese arrival
date_pre	1505
event_post
date_post
p1	Kingdom of Kotte
p2	Kingdom of Jaffna
p3	Kingdom of Sitawaka
s1	Dutch Ceylon
image_flag	Flag Portugal (1640).svg
flag_alt
image_flag2
flag_alt2
flag
flag2
flag_type
flag2_type
image_coat	Royal Arms of Portugal.svg
coat_size
coat_alt
symbol
symbol_type
image_map	File:Portuguese Ceylon.svg
image_map_caption
image_map2
capital	Colombo
common_languages	Portuguese (official)
Sinhala
Tamil
religion	Roman Catholicism
currency
leader1	Philip I
leader2	Philip II
leader3	Philip III
leader4	John IV
leader5	Afonso VI
year_leader1	1597–1598
year_leader2	1598–1621
year_leader3	1621–1640
year_leader4	1640–1656
year_leader5	1656–1658
title_leader	King of Portugal
representative1	Jerónimo de Azevedo
representative2	António de Amaral de Meneses
year_representative1	1597–1614
year_representative2	1656–1658
title_representative	Captain-General
deputy1
year_deputy1
title_deputy
<!-- Legislature -->	legislature
house1
type_house1
house2
type_house2
<!-- Area and population of a given year -->	stat_year1
stat_area1
stat_pop1
footnote_a
footnote_b
footnote_h
footnotes

si pṛtugīsi laṁkāva ta Pōrttukkēya ilaṅkai Sinhala Tamil

Portuguese Ceylon (; ; ) 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 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. 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.

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.

History

Arrival and establishment of the Portuguese (1505–1543)

Portuguese knew Sri Lanka by the name Seylan. In 1505 King of Portugal instructed General Dom Francisco de Almeida to find the island of Seylan when he was appointed as the emperor of the East by the Portuguese. When the Portuguese were trying to establish relations with Ceylon, Dom Lourenço de Almeida, son of Dom Francisco de Almeida, and others arrived by chance in 1505 AD. So, the first contact between Sri Lanka and the Portuguese was established by Dom Lourenço de Almeida in 1505. It was largely accidental and it wasn't until 12 years later that the Portuguese sought to establish a fortified trading settlement.

The Kingdom of Kotte as a Portuguese entrance (1543–1597)

Main article: Sinhalese–Portuguese War

Annexation of Kotte and war with Kandy (1597)

Main article: Campaign of Danture

Direct Portuguese rule began after the death of Dharmapala of Kotte who bequeathed the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese monarch. By 1600 the Portuguese had consolidated the main centers of rebellion, the Kelani and Kalu ganga basins, leaving the border regions to Sinhalese resistance.

Conquest of Jaffna (1619)

Main article: Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom

Dutch conquest (1638–1658)

Main article: Dutch–Portuguese War

Political cities and their kings in Sri Lanka at the time of arrival of the Portuguese

Main article: Kotte-8th veeraparakramabahu,kandy-senasammatha vikramabahu,jaffna-pararajasekram

Administration

Administrative structure

Main article: List of Captains of Portuguese Ceylon}}{{Main, List of Captain-majors of Portuguese Ceylon}}{{Main, List of Governors of Portuguese Ceylon

Administrative divisions

Taxation

Military

Demographics and ethnicities

Economy

Cinnamon and black pepper were main spices exported by Portuguese.

Legacy

Food

There are many foods of Portuguese influence that are still popular in Sri Lanka. For example, lingus and pastries.

Language

Sinhala words for certain types of Western attire/ furniture/ food & drink are derived from the Portuguese. Some examples are below:

Sinhala Word	Meaning	Portuguese Word
Mesaya	Table	Mesa (Table)
Almaariya	Cupboard	Armário (Cupboard)
Kurusaya	Cross	Cruz (Cross)
Toppiya	Hat	Topo (Hat)
Kamisaya	Shirt	Camiseta (Shirt)
Kalisama	Trousers	Calção (Trousers)
Sapaththuwa	Shoe	Sapato (Shoe)
Sidaadiya	City	Cidade (City)
Bébadda (colloq.)	Drunkard	Bêbado (drunkard)
Iskole	School	Escola (School)

Click here for more examples.....

References

C. Gaston Pereira, Kandy fights the Portuguese. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, July 2007.
Channa Wicremasekera, Kandy at War. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2004.
Michael Roberts, Sinhala Consciousness in the Kandyan Period. Sri Lanka: Vijitha Yapa Publications, 2004. ,
Senaka Weeraratna, Repression of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese (1505 - 1658)

References

[https://archive.org/stream/ceylonportuguese00pier/ceylonportuguese00pier_djvu.txt Ceylon and the Portuguese, 1505–1658 (1920). Author: Pieris, P. E. (Paulus Edward), 1874–; Naish, Richard Bryant, 1891– Subject: Sri Lanka – History] p.140
De Silva (1981), p. 114
De Silva (1981), p. 100
De Silva (1981), p. 100
De Silva (1981), p. 114
De Silva (1981), p. 115

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

portuguese-ceylon kingdom-of-kotte former-portuguese-colonies former-countries-in-south-asia states-and-territories-established-in-1597 states-and-territories-disestablished-in-1658 1597-establishments-in-asia 1658-disestablishments-in-asia 16th-century-establishments-in-sri-lanka 17th-century-disestablishments-in-sri-lanka 1597-establishments-in-the-portuguese-empire 1658-disestablishments-in-the-portuguese-empire transitional-period-of-sri-lanka

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