colony · South Asia
Dutch Ceylon
Origins
Rajasinha II of the Kingdom of Kandy invited the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to help expel the Portuguese. The Dutch took Batticaloa in 1638, Trincomalee in 1639 and Galle in 1640, then Colombo in 1656 and Jaffna in 1658, but kept the conquered coasts for themselves rather than handing them to Kandy.
Rule and society
A governor at Colombo ruled the maritime provinces, enforcing a strict monopoly on cinnamon, the colony's chief product, and also trading elephants, pearls and areca. Roman-Dutch law, introduced in this period, still forms the basis of Sri Lankan civil law. The Dutch built forts at Galle and Jaffna, Reformed churches and canals, and a Burgher community of European descent emerged. Relations with Kandy alternated between trade and war.
Decline and legacy
During the French Revolutionary Wars, British forces from Madras occupied the Dutch possessions in 1795 to 1796. They were formally ceded by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 and became British Ceylon. Galle Fort is now a World Heritage Site.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Dutch Ceylon was a colony of Dutch Empire1640 CE – 1796 CE
- Vanni chieftaincies paid tribute to Dutch Ceylon1658 CE – 1796 CE
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Dutch Ceylon. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-ceylon
- MLA
- “Dutch Ceylon.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-ceylon. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Dutch Ceylon.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-ceylon.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Dutch Ceylon’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/dutch-ceylon (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻