Dutch Ceylon

Dutch Ceylon was a governorate established by the Dutch East India Company in present-day Sri Lanka. It existed from 1640 until 1796. The Dutch were invited by the king of Kandy to help expel the Portuguese, and after signing the Kandyan Treaty of 1638 they captured the fort at Batticaloa, then Negombo and Galle in 1640. Galle remained the centre of Dutch power for some eighteen years until Colombo was taken and became the seat of government. The Dutch never controlled the interior kingdom of Kandy, and their territory was confined to the coastal provinces, where they promoted the cinnamon trade and introduced Roman-Dutch law. The colony passed to Britain during the French Revolutionary Wars: after the Dutch Republic fell to France in 1795, British forces took the coastal possessions, and Colombo surrendered on 14 February 1796. The territory was formally ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens, becoming British Ceylon. Dutch buildings, canals and legal institutions left a lasting mark on the island.