Dutch Ceylon

Sri Lanka, 1640–1796. Draft, not yet reviewed

Dutch Ceylon was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company. Although the Dutch managed to capture most of the coastal areas in Sri Lanka, they were never able to control the Kingdom of Kandy located in the interior of the island. Dutch Ceylon existed from 1640 until 1796. The Dutch were invited by the Sinhalese to help fight the Portuguese.

Seat of power: Colombo

No rulers documented for this era yet.

Culture

• The Dutch ruled all the Tamil provinces and brought Tanjore Tamil workers to work in the cinnamon gardens in the Western Province and tobacco farms in Jaffna.
• The Dutch persecuted the Catholics, the left-over Portuguese settlers, but left the Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims alone. However, they taxed the people far more heavily than the Portuguese had done.
• A mixed Dutch-Sri Lankan people known as Burgher people are the legacy of Dutch rule.

Picture

Galle Fort on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, then extensively fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards.

Image: Rovin Shanila, CC BY-SA 4.0, file

Sources

• Dutch Ceylon (Wikipedia)
• Dutch Ceylon (Wikidata)
• About the picture (Wikipedia)

Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.