Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese Ceylon
Ceilão Português (Portuguese) පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව (Sinhalese) போர்த்துகீசியம் இலங்கை (Tamil)
Portuguese colony
1597–1658
Flag Coat of arms
Extent of Portuguese rule in Ceylon
Capital		Colombo
Languages		Portuguese Sinhalese Tamil
Religion		Roman Catholicism
Political structure		Colony
King of Portugal
•	1597-1598	Philip I
•	1598-1621	Philip II
•	1621-1640	Philip III
•	1640-1656	John IV
•	1656-1658	Afonso VI
Governors
•	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
b.	...

Portuguese Ceylon (Portuguese: Ceilão Português, Sinhala: පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව Potugisi Lankava) refers to the control of the Kingdom of Kotte by the Portuguese Empire, in present-day Sri Lanka, after the country's Crisis of the Sixteenth Century and into the Kandyan period.

Portuguese presence in the island lasted from 1505 to 1658. Their arrival was largely accidental, seeking control of commerce over territorial conquest. Their appearance coincided with the political upheaval of the Wijayaba Kollaya and were drawn into the internal politics of the island as they sought to establish control over the lucrative Cinnamon trade that originated there. The Portuguese used these internal divisions to their advantage during the Sinhalese–Portuguese War. Direct Portuguese rule inside the island did not begin until after the death of Dharmapala of Kotte, who died without an heir and who by 1580 bequeathed the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese monarch. This allowed the Portuguese sufficient claim to the Kingdom of Kotte upon Dharmapala's death in 1597. Portuguese rule began with much resistance by the local population.

Eventually, the Kingdom of Kandy sought help from the Dutch Empire in their efforts to rid the island of the Portuguese. The Dutch Empire initially entered into agreement with the Kingdom of Kandy. After the collapse of the Iberian economy in 1627, the Dutch–Portuguese War saw the Dutch conquest of most of Portugal's Asian colonies. Eventually, Portugal's Ceylonese territories were ceded to the Netherlands. Nevertheless, there remain elements of Portuguese culture in Sri Lanka today from this colonial period.