Dutch period in Ceylon
Encyclopedia
Ceylon was a governorate
of the Dutch East India Company
between 1658 and 1798 on the island currently known as Sri Lanka
.
In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka
was partly ruled by the Portuguese
and the Sinhala kingdom
, who were constantly battling each other. Although the Portuguese were not winning the war, their rule was rather burdensome to the people of those areas controlled by them. While the Dutch were engaged in a long war of independence from Spanish rule, the Sinhalese
king (the king of Kandy
) invited the Dutch to help defeat the Portuguese. The Dutch interest in Ceylon was to have a united battle front against the Iberians
at that time.
After the Sri Lankans' betrayal of the Dutch, the Dutch invaded parts of Sri Lanka. They retained an area as compensation for the cost of war and gradually extended their land. As a result of the Kew Letters
, the Dutch relinquished the territory to the British.
and Mughal
conquerors, and below India's kingdom, Ceylon was under the protection of China
. In return, Sinhalese kings had to pay 'Kappam' taxes just before the Portuguese came. The Dutch were invited by the Sri Lankans to liberate the country from the Portuguese. They signed the Kandyan Treaty of 1638
with Rajasinghe II and soon embarked on a war against their common enemy. As such the Dutch were appointed as a protector of the country.
Meanwhile however, Rajasinghe II approached the French and offered them the Trincomalee fort as a check against Dutch power. The Dutch captured Trinco from the French and controlled all the maritime provinces of the island. Rajasinghe and the Dutch were both playing a double game trying to outwit each other, and the treaty of 1638 was never implemented. The Dutch ruled all the Tamil provinces and brought Tanjore Tamil slaves to work in the Cinnamon gardens in the Western Province. The capital of Dutch Coromandel
was in Pulicat
and they brought needed manpower from the Indian colonies.
kings were educated by Portuguese teachers, and their royal court had Portuguese ministers as advisers. But King Rajasinghe was not happy with the Portuguese, who originally came to trade with the Ceylonese and conquered them. The trade commodities the Portuguese sold, such as spices, were bought at minimum prices, giving them a huge profit in European markets.
The Ceylonese were unhappy about losing their freedom and lands to the Portuguese, who forced them into the Portuguese way of life. They wanted religious freedom and political freedom from Portugal, so Holland, a powerful enemy of Portugal, came to their aid. Even Denmark offered to help the king of Kandy as there was a Dutch-Portuguese War
raging on.
Dutch ships came and landed in Batticaloa and talked with the king of Kandy for allied action against the Portuguese. Rajasinghe immediately seized this opportunity to remove the Portuguese out of Sri Lanka.
Dutch ships and their captains came several times, expanded their friendship with the King of Kandy and jointly plotted plans to liberate the forts around the coasts of Ceylon. The treaty signed between the Ceylonese and Dutch (Kandyan Treaty of 1638
) paved the way for new horizons in their relationships. After the treaty the King betrayed the Dutch by offering the fort at Trincomalee to the French. As a consequence, the Dutch captured Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Negombo and Galle.
discovered America
there was a significant Iberian
challenge facing large parts of the world for Spain and Portugal in conquering the Americas and many other territories around the world. In the east, Portugal held territories not only in Ceylon but in India and what is now Indonesia, then referred to as the East Indies
.
From 1580 to 1640, the throne of Portugal
was held by the Habsburg
kings of Spain
resulting in the biggest colonial empire until then (see Iberian Union
). In 1583 Philip I of Portugal, II of Spain
, sent his combined Iberian fleet to clear the French traders from the Azores, decisively hanging his prisoners-of-war from the yardarms and contributing to the "Black Legend
". The Azores were the last part of Portugal to resist Philip's reign over Portugal.
The Netherlands meanwhile were in open revolt against their Habsburg overlord and declared themselves a Republic in 1581. Prior to 1580 Dutch merchants had procured colonial produce mostly from Lisbon, but the Iberian Union cut off this supply. Survival of the fledgling republic depended on their going into the colonial business themselves.
With two global empires to rule, and with a growing colonial competition of the Dutch, English and French, the Habsburg kings neglected the protection of some of the Portuguese possessions around the world. In this period Portugal lost a great number of lands to the new colonial rivals.
During the Twelve Years’ Truce (1609-'21) the Dutch
had made their navy a priority in order to devastate Spanish maritime trade -upon which much of Spain's economy depended- after the resumption of war. In 1627, the Castilian economy collapsed. Even with a number of victories, Spanish resources were now fully stretched across Europe and also at sea protecting their vital shipping against the greatly improved Dutch fleet. Spain's enemies, such as the Netherlands
and England
, coveted its overseas wealth, and in many cases found it easier to attack poorly-defended Portuguese outposts than Spanish ones. The Spanish were simply no longer able to cope with naval threats. In the Dutch-Portuguese War
that followed many erstwhile Portuguese possession fell into Dutch hands.
Between 1638 and 1640 the Netherlands
even came to control part of Brazil's northeast region, with their capital in Recife
. The Portuguese won a significant victory in the Second Battle of Guararapes
in 1649. By 1654, the Netherlands had surrendered and returned control of all Brazilian land to the Portuguese.
Although Dutch colonies
in Brazil were wiped out, during the course of the 17th century the Dutch were able to occupy Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope
, and the East Indies
, and to take over the trade with Japan at Nagasaki. Portugal's Asiatic territories were reduced to bases at Macau
, East Timor
and Portuguese India
.
As such these forts became the property of the Dutch East India Company. King Rajasinghe wanted to demolish all of them. But Dutch were not paid off their dues against the war against Portuguese and as a result the Dutch did not want to demolish them. The Dutch Sinhalese treaty had conditions where the Sinhala king has to maintain and support the Dutch forces as they were waging war on behalf of the Ceylon/Kandy King against the Portuguese.
The treaty had 2 copies and the Dutch copy had a clause for the Dutch to own and operate the seaports. The Kandyan copy did not have this clause. The King was not abiding by the treaty as his copy was interpreted as saying that the ports would go back to the King of Kandy. King was fulfilling his part of the obligations. Dutch took all the ports and forts and rest of the lands and replaced the Portuguese. As such the Dutch never left Ceylon and replaced Portugal and started ruling the parts where they seized power as the agents of the king. The people were Tamils and they accepted their new ruler without much reservations. Only in Galle and Negombo the chance of a Portuguese attack remained a real threat.
Rajasinghe always wanted to get rid of both the Portuguese and the Dutch by setting one against another. At times when the Dutch officers or commanders offended him, he ordered their assassination. At times he massacred a ship load of Dutch for minor misbehaviors of their captain. This kind of cruel and crafty behavior made the Dutch to keep the forts and vast amount of land they captured.
Rajasinghe and his courtiers did not offer the help they should. As such most of the battles were waged by the Dutch and the Dutch suffered heavy losses. But when it came to share the loot from the captured forts like Galle, Kandyan king and his forces were there for the occasion and the Dutch gave half the war assets to Kandyan king.
Fort Coster
, the Dutch Commander went to Kandy and met Rajasinghe. He wanted the King to pay for the wars waged against Portuguese, but the Kandy did not have the gold to pay for that war. The Kingdom has entered into a tricky treaty which would bankrupt the Kingdom.
The Dutch were used by the Sinhala king to take revenge on the Portuguese who wanted to expand their rule. The coming of the Dutch ensured that the Portuguese had two enemies to deal with, so that finally the Portuguese were forced to sign a treaty with the Dutch and come to terms with their open economies. Finally, the Portuguese left Ceylon.
The war with Portugal was against their ruler the King of Spain. Once Portugal obtained its freedom from Spain the Netherlands settled for peace with Portugal. Then they divided the occupied areas of Ceylon amicably under a treaty signed in Goa. Slowly, the Dutch became the rulers of coastal and outer areas of Ceylon and Indonesia, and the Portuguese were left with small pieces of territory compared to the Dutch and the English.
The Dutch settled several Malay soldiers and policemen in Ceylon as a way of ruling the native population.
The Dutch were republicans and brought the ideals of republicanism to Ceylon.
The Batavian
government was more popular among the Dutch population than was that of the Prince of Orange
.This would have been because it was the product of a genuine popular revolution. This was evident during the British-Russian
invasion of Holland in 1799.
As a French vassal state, the Batavian Republic was an ally of France in its wars against Great Britain. This led to the loss of most of the Dutch colonial empire and a defeat of the Dutch fleet in the Battle of Camperdown
(Camperduin) in 1797. The collapse of Dutch trade caused a series of economic crises. Only in the second half of the 19th century would Dutch wealth be restored to its previous level.
has written a great historical record similar to Mahavamsa on the Jaffna people and their culture and it was immediately published in Dutch and German with several beautiful pictures. At the Point Pedro Market Square a granite stone inscription still marks the place where Rev. Baldeus preached to the Tamils under a big tamarind
tree. This tamarind tree was uprooted during the cyclone of 1964.
Governorate
A governorate is an administrative division of a country. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states, provinces, or colonies, the term governorate is often used in translation from non-English-speaking administrations.The...
of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
between 1658 and 1798 on the island currently known as Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
.
In the early 17th century, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
was partly ruled by the Portuguese
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
and the Sinhala kingdom
Sinhala Kingdom
Sinhala was a kingdom in the island Lanka, modern day Sri Lanka, mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. From 'Sinhala Diva' are derived the Tamil 'Eelam', Persian/Arabic Serendipor Sarandib, and the European 'Ceilao', 'Zeylan' and 'Ceylon'....
, who were constantly battling each other. Although the Portuguese were not winning the war, their rule was rather burdensome to the people of those areas controlled by them. While the Dutch were engaged in a long war of independence from Spanish rule, the Sinhalese
Sinhala Kingdom
Sinhala was a kingdom in the island Lanka, modern day Sri Lanka, mentioned in the epic Mahabharata. From 'Sinhala Diva' are derived the Tamil 'Eelam', Persian/Arabic Serendipor Sarandib, and the European 'Ceilao', 'Zeylan' and 'Ceylon'....
king (the king of Kandy
Kandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
) invited the Dutch to help defeat the Portuguese. The Dutch interest in Ceylon was to have a united battle front against the Iberians
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
at that time.
After the Sri Lankans' betrayal of the Dutch, the Dutch invaded parts of Sri Lanka. They retained an area as compensation for the cost of war and gradually extended their land. As a result of the Kew Letters
Kew Letters
The Kew Letters were a number of letters, written by stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange between 30 January and 8 February 1795 from the "Dutch House" at Kew Palace, where he temporarily stayed after his flight to England on 18 January 1795...
, the Dutch relinquished the territory to the British.
The Portuguese
In between MuslimMuslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent
Muslim conquest in South Asia mainly took place from the 13th to the 16th centuries, though earlier Muslim conquests made limited inroads into the region, beginning during the period of the ascendancy of the Rajput Kingdoms in North India, from the 7th century onwards.However, the Himalayan...
and Mughal
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
conquerors, and below India's kingdom, Ceylon was under the protection of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In return, Sinhalese kings had to pay 'Kappam' taxes just before the Portuguese came. The Dutch were invited by the Sri Lankans to liberate the country from the Portuguese. They signed the Kandyan Treaty of 1638
Kandyan Treaty of 1638
The Kandyan Treaty of 1638 was a treaty between the Kingdom of Kandy, in Sri Lanka, and the Dutch Republic signed by King Rajasinghe II for the Kingdom of Kandy and Adam Westerwold and William Jacobsz Coster, a commander and vice commander of the Dutch Naval Forces respectively, for the Dutch East...
with Rajasinghe II and soon embarked on a war against their common enemy. As such the Dutch were appointed as a protector of the country.
Meanwhile however, Rajasinghe II approached the French and offered them the Trincomalee fort as a check against Dutch power. The Dutch captured Trinco from the French and controlled all the maritime provinces of the island. Rajasinghe and the Dutch were both playing a double game trying to outwit each other, and the treaty of 1638 was never implemented. The Dutch ruled all the Tamil provinces and brought Tanjore Tamil slaves to work in the Cinnamon gardens in the Western Province. The capital of Dutch Coromandel
Dutch Coromandel
Coromandel was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company on the Coromandel Coast between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1802. It then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British according to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Dutch...
was in Pulicat
Pulicat
Pulicat is a historic seashore town in Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, South India. It is about 60 km north of Chennai and 3 km from Elavur, on the barrier island of Sriharikota, which separates Pulicat Lake from the Bay of Bengal. Pulicat lake is a shallow salt water lagoon...
and they brought needed manpower from the Indian colonies.
Dutch conquest
In the 17th century, the Dutch were firmly established in Java at the time when the Portuguese were firmly established in Ceylon. The Portuguese had brought Western culture into Ceylon. The KandyKandy
Kandy is a city in the center of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau, which crosses an area of tropical plantations, mainly tea. Kandy is one of the most scenic cities in Sri Lanka; it is both an...
kings were educated by Portuguese teachers, and their royal court had Portuguese ministers as advisers. But King Rajasinghe was not happy with the Portuguese, who originally came to trade with the Ceylonese and conquered them. The trade commodities the Portuguese sold, such as spices, were bought at minimum prices, giving them a huge profit in European markets.
The Ceylonese were unhappy about losing their freedom and lands to the Portuguese, who forced them into the Portuguese way of life. They wanted religious freedom and political freedom from Portugal, so Holland, a powerful enemy of Portugal, came to their aid. Even Denmark offered to help the king of Kandy as there was a Dutch-Portuguese War
Dutch-Portuguese War
The Dutch–Portuguese War was an armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, against the Portuguese Empire. Beginning in 1602, the conflict primarily involved the Dutch companies invading Portuguese colonies in the Americas,...
raging on.
Dutch ships came and landed in Batticaloa and talked with the king of Kandy for allied action against the Portuguese. Rajasinghe immediately seized this opportunity to remove the Portuguese out of Sri Lanka.
Dutch ships and their captains came several times, expanded their friendship with the King of Kandy and jointly plotted plans to liberate the forts around the coasts of Ceylon. The treaty signed between the Ceylonese and Dutch (Kandyan Treaty of 1638
Kandyan Treaty of 1638
The Kandyan Treaty of 1638 was a treaty between the Kingdom of Kandy, in Sri Lanka, and the Dutch Republic signed by King Rajasinghe II for the Kingdom of Kandy and Adam Westerwold and William Jacobsz Coster, a commander and vice commander of the Dutch Naval Forces respectively, for the Dutch East...
) paved the way for new horizons in their relationships. After the treaty the King betrayed the Dutch by offering the fort at Trincomalee to the French. As a consequence, the Dutch captured Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Negombo and Galle.
Double dealings of the Dutch and the Nayake kings
Rajasinha II is well known to Sri Lankans today from his correspondence with the Dutch, as edited by the late Mr. Donald Ferguson, and from the account of the Kandyan kingdom written by the Englishman Robert Knox, detained there with his fellows as a captive from 1659 to 1679. He was a strong ruler who united his dominions, rectifying the disastrous division made by his father by poisoning one half-brother and driving out another. He was despotic, tyrannical and suspicious, yet very farsighted, and kept his chiefs as hostages at his court. He had no remorse in ravaging and depopulating his subjects' lands when it seemed to be to his political advantage. He was a master in craftiness and double dealings, but met his equals in diplomacy in the Dutch, who found it impossible to act otherwise with an ally who is so shifty. He was acquainted with the Portuguese, and probably had a somewhat wider outlook than his successors. In military matters he was in no wise the equal of his namesake of Sitawaka, whom he wished to emulate; his troops, excellent at guerrilla warfare, and their presence at Colombo rather hindered the Dutch. The Sinhala proverb, `Like giving ginger and getting pepper' ("to get worse"), illustrative of a bad bargain, was applied to his ousting of the Portuguese by means of the faithful Hollanders, and due to this, his invitation of a strong power only resulted in the isolation of his kingdom and its removal from all progressive influences.Dutch-Portuguese War
From the time that Christopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
discovered America
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
there was a significant Iberian
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
challenge facing large parts of the world for Spain and Portugal in conquering the Americas and many other territories around the world. In the east, Portugal held territories not only in Ceylon but in India and what is now Indonesia, then referred to as the East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
.
From 1580 to 1640, the throne of Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
was held by the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
kings of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
resulting in the biggest colonial empire until then (see Iberian Union
Iberian Union
The Iberian union was a political unit that governed all of the Iberian Peninsula south of the Pyrenees from 1580–1640, through a dynastic union between the monarchies of Portugal and Spain after the War of the Portuguese Succession...
). In 1583 Philip I of Portugal, II of Spain
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, sent his combined Iberian fleet to clear the French traders from the Azores, decisively hanging his prisoners-of-war from the yardarms and contributing to the "Black Legend
Black Legend
The Black Legend refers to a style of historical writing that demonizes Spain and in particular the Spanish Empire in a politically motivated attempt to morally disqualify Spain and its people, and to incite animosity against Spanish rule...
". The Azores were the last part of Portugal to resist Philip's reign over Portugal.
The Netherlands meanwhile were in open revolt against their Habsburg overlord and declared themselves a Republic in 1581. Prior to 1580 Dutch merchants had procured colonial produce mostly from Lisbon, but the Iberian Union cut off this supply. Survival of the fledgling republic depended on their going into the colonial business themselves.
With two global empires to rule, and with a growing colonial competition of the Dutch, English and French, the Habsburg kings neglected the protection of some of the Portuguese possessions around the world. In this period Portugal lost a great number of lands to the new colonial rivals.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
had made their navy a priority in order to devastate Spanish maritime trade -upon which much of Spain's economy depended- after the resumption of war. In 1627, the Castilian economy collapsed. Even with a number of victories, Spanish resources were now fully stretched across Europe and also at sea protecting their vital shipping against the greatly improved Dutch fleet. Spain's enemies, such as the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, coveted its overseas wealth, and in many cases found it easier to attack poorly-defended Portuguese outposts than Spanish ones. The Spanish were simply no longer able to cope with naval threats. In the Dutch-Portuguese War
Dutch-Portuguese War
The Dutch–Portuguese War was an armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, against the Portuguese Empire. Beginning in 1602, the conflict primarily involved the Dutch companies invading Portuguese colonies in the Americas,...
that followed many erstwhile Portuguese possession fell into Dutch hands.
Between 1638 and 1640 the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
even came to control part of Brazil's northeast region, with their capital in Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
. The Portuguese won a significant victory in the Second Battle of Guararapes
Second Battle of Guararapes
The Second Battle of Guararapes was the second and decisive battle in a conflict called Pernambucana Insurrection, between Dutch and Portuguese forces in 1649 at Jaboatão dos Guararapes in the state of Pernambuco, ending the Dutch occupation of Brazil....
in 1649. By 1654, the Netherlands had surrendered and returned control of all Brazilian land to the Portuguese.
Although Dutch colonies
Dutch Empire
The Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
in Brazil were wiped out, during the course of the 17th century the Dutch were able to occupy Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
, and the East Indies
East Indies
East Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, and to take over the trade with Japan at Nagasaki. Portugal's Asiatic territories were reduced to bases at Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
, East Timor
East Timor
The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, commonly known as East Timor , is a state in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecusse, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
and Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
.
Dutch Capture Portuguese Forts
Forts in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Negombo and Galle were liberated with the help of Ceylonese Army and Dutch Navy. In reality these forts were in marginal areas where Kotte Kingdom did not exist at that time. It was Tamils who lived around these forts except in the case of Galle fort. as such the Portuguese were unable to defend it with the mercenaries whom they have recruited from Cormandel and western Indian coasts.As such these forts became the property of the Dutch East India Company. King Rajasinghe wanted to demolish all of them. But Dutch were not paid off their dues against the war against Portuguese and as a result the Dutch did not want to demolish them. The Dutch Sinhalese treaty had conditions where the Sinhala king has to maintain and support the Dutch forces as they were waging war on behalf of the Ceylon/Kandy King against the Portuguese.
The treaty had 2 copies and the Dutch copy had a clause for the Dutch to own and operate the seaports. The Kandyan copy did not have this clause. The King was not abiding by the treaty as his copy was interpreted as saying that the ports would go back to the King of Kandy. King was fulfilling his part of the obligations. Dutch took all the ports and forts and rest of the lands and replaced the Portuguese. As such the Dutch never left Ceylon and replaced Portugal and started ruling the parts where they seized power as the agents of the king. The people were Tamils and they accepted their new ruler without much reservations. Only in Galle and Negombo the chance of a Portuguese attack remained a real threat.
Rajasinghe always wanted to get rid of both the Portuguese and the Dutch by setting one against another. At times when the Dutch officers or commanders offended him, he ordered their assassination. At times he massacred a ship load of Dutch for minor misbehaviors of their captain. This kind of cruel and crafty behavior made the Dutch to keep the forts and vast amount of land they captured.
Rajasinghe and his courtiers did not offer the help they should. As such most of the battles were waged by the Dutch and the Dutch suffered heavy losses. But when it came to share the loot from the captured forts like Galle, Kandyan king and his forces were there for the occasion and the Dutch gave half the war assets to Kandyan king.
Treachery in Kandy
After capturing the GalleGalle
Galle is a city situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. Galle is the capital city of Southern Province of Sri Lanka and it lies in Galle District....
Fort Coster
Coster
Coster is a surname, and may refer to:* Anne Vallayer-Coster , French painter* Charles Coster , American soldier and public official* Charles De Coster , Belgian novelist* Dirk Coster , Dutch physicist...
, the Dutch Commander went to Kandy and met Rajasinghe. He wanted the King to pay for the wars waged against Portuguese, but the Kandy did not have the gold to pay for that war. The Kingdom has entered into a tricky treaty which would bankrupt the Kingdom.
The Dutch and the Portuguese
Portuguese rule was always in the maritime provinces and the people whom they converted into their religion were fishermen. They were their backbone of their power. The rest of the Ceylon remained in the Buddhist-Hindu religion.The Dutch were used by the Sinhala king to take revenge on the Portuguese who wanted to expand their rule. The coming of the Dutch ensured that the Portuguese had two enemies to deal with, so that finally the Portuguese were forced to sign a treaty with the Dutch and come to terms with their open economies. Finally, the Portuguese left Ceylon.
The war with Portugal was against their ruler the King of Spain. Once Portugal obtained its freedom from Spain the Netherlands settled for peace with Portugal. Then they divided the occupied areas of Ceylon amicably under a treaty signed in Goa. Slowly, the Dutch became the rulers of coastal and outer areas of Ceylon and Indonesia, and the Portuguese were left with small pieces of territory compared to the Dutch and the English.
Implications of Dutch rule in Ceylon
The Dutch started ruling and expanding their areas. Now the King of Kandy searched for another party of power to help in the war. For this, they approached France. Finally, England replaced Holland by diplomatically taking over Dutch colonies during the Napoleonic wars.The Dutch settled several Malay soldiers and policemen in Ceylon as a way of ruling the native population.
The Dutch were republicans and brought the ideals of republicanism to Ceylon.
The Batavian
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic was the successor of the Republic of the United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on January 19, 1795, and ended on June 5, 1806, with the accession of Louis Bonaparte to the throne of the Kingdom of Holland....
government was more popular among the Dutch population than was that of the Prince of Orange
William V, Prince of Orange
William V , Prince of Orange-Nassau was the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, and between 1795 and 1806 he led the Government of the Dutch Republic in Exile in London. He was succeeded by his son William I...
.This would have been because it was the product of a genuine popular revolution. This was evident during the British-Russian
Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland
The Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland refers to the campaign of 27 August to 19 November 1799 during the War of the Second Coalition, in which an expeditionary force of British and Russian troops invaded the North-Holland peninsula in the Batavian Republic...
invasion of Holland in 1799.
As a French vassal state, the Batavian Republic was an ally of France in its wars against Great Britain. This led to the loss of most of the Dutch colonial empire and a defeat of the Dutch fleet in the Battle of Camperdown
Battle of Camperdown
The Battle of Camperdown was a major naval action fought on 11 October 1797 between a Royal Navy fleet under Admiral Adam Duncan and a Dutch Navy fleet under Vice-Admiral Jan de Winter...
(Camperduin) in 1797. The collapse of Dutch trade caused a series of economic crises. Only in the second half of the 19th century would Dutch wealth be restored to its previous level.
Legacy
The islands of Palk Straits were renamed during Dutch rule in Dutch as Leiden, Kayts and other cities of the Netherlands. Dutch priest Rev. Philippus BaldeusBaldeus
Father Philippus Baldaeus, Baelde or Philip Balde was a Dutch minister. He went to Jaffna, Ceylon with an invading Dutch force during 17th Century. As the first European he documented the life, language and culture of Tamil people, living in the north of the island...
has written a great historical record similar to Mahavamsa on the Jaffna people and their culture and it was immediately published in Dutch and German with several beautiful pictures. At the Point Pedro Market Square a granite stone inscription still marks the place where Rev. Baldeus preached to the Tamils under a big tamarind
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:...
tree. This tamarind tree was uprooted during the cyclone of 1964.