Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese Ceylon was the territory on the island of Ceylon, modern Sri Lanka, controlled by the Portuguese Empire between 1597 and 1658. Portuguese presence dated from 1505, when a fleet arrived largely by accident, and for decades the Portuguese sought control of commerce rather than territory. They were drawn into the island's internal politics during the Wijayaba Kollaya upheaval and used Sinhalese divisions in the Sinhalese–Portuguese wars, first to control the cinnamon trade and later to dominate the whole island. Direct rule began only after the death of Dharmapala of Kotte in 1597, since he had bequeathed the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese monarch in 1580. Portuguese rule met strong local resistance, and the Kingdom of Kandy turned to the Dutch East India Company for help. In the Dutch–Portuguese War the Dutch captured most Portuguese Asian possessions, including Ceylon, between 1638 and 1658. Colombo, the main Portuguese stronghold, fell in 1656, and the last Portuguese positions were lost by 1658, after which the island passed to the Dutch.