Portuguese Ceylon facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Portuguese Ceylon Ceilão Português (Portuguese) පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව (Sinhalese) போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை (Tamil)
1597–1658
Flag Coat of arms
Extent of Portuguese rule in Ceylon
Status	Defunct
Capital	Colombo
Common languages	Portuguese Sinhalese Tamil
Religion	Roman Catholicism
King of Portugal
• 1597–1598	Philip I
• 1598–1621	Philip II
• 1621–1640	Philip III
Captain-Generals
• 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
• Luso–Kandyan Treaty	1633
• Surrender of Jaffna	June 1658
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Kotte Kingdom of Jaffna Dutch Ceylon
Today part of	Sri Lanka

Portuguese Ceylon was the name for the part of Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) controlled by the Portuguese Empire from 1597 to 1658.

The Portuguese were present on the island from 1505 to 1658. They first arrived by accident. At first, they only wanted to control trade, not land. But soon, they got involved in local politics. They used disagreements between local kingdoms to their advantage during the Sinhalese–Portuguese War. Their goal was to control the valuable cinnamon trade and eventually the whole island.

Direct Portuguese rule began after Dharmapala of Kotte, a local king, died in 1597. He had no children and had given his kingdom, Kingdom of Kotte, to the Portuguese king in 1580. This gave Portugal a claim to the kingdom. However, many local people resisted Portuguese rule.

Later, the Kingdom of Kandy asked the Dutch East India Company for help. They made an agreement with the Dutch. After 1627, the Portuguese economy faced problems. This led to the Dutch–Portuguese War, where the Dutch took over many Portuguese colonies in Asia, including Ceylon, between 1638 and 1658. Even today, some parts of Portuguese culture from this time can still be seen in Sri Lanka.

History of Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese Arrive in Ceylon (1505-1543)

The first time Sri Lanka and Portugal met was in 1505 or 1506. This meeting was mostly by chance. It took 12 more years for the Portuguese to decide they wanted to build a fortified trading post on the island.