Portuguese Ceylon

Portuguese Ceylon is the name given to the part of Ceylon, modern-day Sri-Lanka, controlled by the Portuguese Empire between 1597 and 1658.

Portuguese Ceylon Ceilão Português (Portuguese) පෘතුගීසි ලංකාව (Sinhalese) போர்த்துக்கேய இலங்கை (Tamil)
1597–1658
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
• 1640–1656	John IV
• 1656–1658	Afonso VI
Captain-Generals
• 1597–1614	Jerónimo de Azevedo
• 1656–1658	António de Amaral de Meneses
Historical era	Colonialism
• Portuguese arrival	1505
•	27 May 1597
• Luso–Kandyan Treaty	1633
•	June 1658
Preceded by Succeeded by Kingdom of Kotte Kingdom of Jaffna Dutch Ceylon
Today part of	Sri Lanka

The first contact was established by Dom Lourenço de Almeida in 1505–6. It was largely accidental and it wasn't until 12 years later that the Portuguese sought to establish a fortified trading settlement.

The Portuguese wanted to control commerce, not territory. They were later drawn into the internal politics of the island with the political upheaval of the Wijayaba Kollaya. They used this to their advantage during the Sinhalese–Portuguese War, first in an attempt to control the production of cinnamon. Direct Portuguese rule did not begin until after the death of Dharmapala of Kotte, who died without an heir, and had bequeathed the Kingdom of Kotte to the Portuguese monarch in 1580. That allowed the Portuguese a 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 East India Company, with whom they entered into agreement. After the collapse of the Iberian economy in 1627, the Dutch–Portuguese War saw the Dutch conquest of most of Portugal's Asian colonies - Ceylon included, between 1638 and 1658. Elements of Portuguese culture from this colonial period remain in Sri Lanka.