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The cluster includes all the forms of the country.
The cluster includes the following incarnations of the same nation:
Lanka
Portuguese Ceylon
Dutch Ceylon
British Ceylon
Ceylon
Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka
Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Establishment
January 1149 BC: According to Hindu epics, Lanka was an island fortress, capital of the kingdom of legendary asura king Ravana. The fortress was situated on a plateau between three mountain peaks known as the Trikuta Mountains.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Was a succession crisis caused by the death of the King of Portugal without heirs. The conflict saw two main claimants to the Portuguese throne: António, Prior of Crato, proclaimed in several towns as King of Portugal, and his first cousin Philip II of Spain, who eventually succeeded in claiming the crown, reigning as Philip I of Portugal.
October 1580: Philip II of Spain succeeded in claiming the Portuguese crown, reigning as Philip I of Portugal.
Were a series of wars between the native kingdoms of modern-day Sri Lanka and the Portuguese Empire.
2.1.Growth of the Sitawaka kingdom
Were a series of military campaigns by the Sinhalese Kingdom of Sitawaka to expand its territories.
June 1587: Siege of Colombo 1587-1588.
February 1588: A large Portuguese fleet of eighteen galleys commanded by Manuel de Sousa Coutinho arrived in Colombo, after raiding Sitawakan shores in northwestern Ceylon.
2.2.Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom
Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom.
October 1560: The Portuguese invasion of Jaffna kingdom in 1560 AD was the first expedition against the Jaffna kingdom by the Portuguese Empire. It was led by Viceroy Dom Constantino de Bragança. The Portuguese conquered northern Jaffna kingdom including Nallur, and the island of Mannar. The king of Jaffna escaped in the interior (Vanna).
January 1561: The king of Jaffna, Cankili I, managed to escape and regained the capital through a pact that he made with the Portuguese. He subsequently incited a peoples' rebellion against the Portuguese, resulting in their withdrawing their forces from Nallur.
October 1591: The Portuguese, led by André Furtado, mounted a military campaign against the Jaffna kingdom from Mannar.
2.3.Low intensity conflict of Portugal with Kandy
Were a series of minor conflicts between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy.
January 1617: Parts of Sabaragmuwa and Matara were conquered by Senarat.
January 1617: In December 1616 a much greater revolt broke out in eastern Seven Korales, led by a disgraced grain measurer who claimed to be the grandson of Rajasinha, late prince Nikapitiya Bendara.
February 1617: Despite initial cordiality, Senarat quickly grew distrustful of Nikapitiyas' success and attitude towards Kandy. Fearing a future rival, he withdrew all his aid and ordered Kuruvita Rala to suspend operations while he attempted to gain a truce with the Portuguese.
October 1617: With the coming of favourable winds in March 1617, important Portuguese reinforcements had arrived in Colombo. In June, developments in Jaffna favoured the Portuguese as Cankili I usurped the throne through a coup and in exchange for Portuguese recognition, agreed to prevent supplies and weapons from reaching the rebels from there. Between July and September the Portuguese were able to recapture the Seven Korales.
2.4.Dutch intervention 1638-1658
Was a Dutch military operation in Sri Lanka against the Portuguese Empire.
January 1641: Negombo conquered by netherlands.
January 1659: Tuticorn captured by the Dutch in 1658.
Was a global conflict between the Portuguese Empire and the Dutch Empire. The conflict primarily saw the Dutch companies invading Portuguese colonies in the Americas, Africa, and the East Indies.
3.1.Operations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans
Were the military operations of the Dutch in the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the Dutch-Portuguese War.
May 1638: Dutch Admiral Adam Westerwolt (1580-1639) conquered the Portuguese fort at Batticaloa on Ceylon.
March 1640: Galle conquered by netherlands.
January 1657: The Dutch, led by Admiral Gerard Pietersz Hulft, were able to capture Colombo in 1656 from the Portuguese, establishing Dutch control over the territory of Dutch Ceylon.
Was a revolution organized by the Portuguese nobility and bourgeoisie sixty years after the crowning of Philip I (Philip II of Spain), the first "dual monarch", that ended the Iberian Union.
November 1640: A revolution organized by the nobility and bourgeoisie on 1 December 1640, sixty years after the crowning of Philip I (Philip II of Spain), the first "dual monarch", ended the Iberian Union between Portugal and Spain.
Was the war of independence of the United States of America (at the time the Thirteen Colonies) against Great Britain.
5.1.Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
Was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic during the American Revolutionary War.
January 1782: British forces captured Trincomalee.
May 1784: In 1784, the British crown returned Trincomalee to the States General of Dutch Ceylon, along with other Dutch territories captured during the war. The East India Company forces were involved in the conquest of these towns, forts, harbors, and settlements.
Were a series of conflicts between France and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars against the newly declared French Republic and from 1803 onwards the Napoleonic Wars against First Consul and later Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. They include the Coalition Wars as a subset: seven wars waged by various military alliances of great European powers, known as Coalitions, against Revolutionary France - later the First French Empire - and its allies.
6.1.French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars - Theatre of war in the overseas colonies
The theatre of war in the overseas colonies during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
February 1796: In the period 1788 - 1795 there was no cordiality between the Dutch and the British. The British had planned after their conquest of India to take over a dozen Dutch possessions in the region, with Ceylon as the biggest prize. Their chance came when in the winter of 1794/95 Holland was overrun by the French army. On 14 February 1796, the Dutch forces surrendered with minimal bloodshed.
Were a series of wars betweent the British Empire and the native Sinhalese Kingdom of Kandy on the island of Sri Lanka. The Kingdom of Kandy was eventually inglobated into British Ceylon.
7.1.First Kandyan War
Was the first of the Kandyan Wars between the British Empire and the Sinhalese Kingdom of Kandy.
January 1804: The Kandy army was utterly routed by superior British firepower, forcing Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe to flee back into the mountains.
January 1804: The Kandyan army, led by King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha and his chief minister Pilimatalawe, advanced through the mountain passes to Hanwella in 1803 during their military occupation of the territory.
January 1806: In 1805, British forces led by General Thomas Maitland captured Katuwana from the Kingdom of Kandy. This military occupation marked a significant advancement in the British colonization of Sri Lanka.
January 999 BC: End of Prehistoric Sri Lanka period.
January 1518: Portoguese conquest of Colombo.
January 1598: Direct Portuguese rule in Kotte 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 sufficient claim to the Kingdom of Kotte upon Dharmapala's death in 1597.
January 1622: Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom.
August 1630: A disastrous defeat at the battle of Randeniwela on 2 August 1630 in which Portuguese captain-general Constantino de Sá de Noronha was killed resulted in large parts of Portuguese Ceilao being overrun by the Kandyans.
January 1631: The Portuguese strengthened their position throughout the 1620s, building forts at Kalutara, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, and in Sabaragamuwa.
January 1636: The Kandyans, led by King Senarat, briefly controlled lowland Sri Lanka in the 1630s. However, internal instability weakened their hold, allowing the Portuguese to regain control by the time of Senarat's death in 1635.
March 1640: In February 1640 the Portuguese fort of Negombo, a short distance North of Colombo was captured by Philip Lucasz.
January 1657: The Dutch-Portuguese War saw the Dutch conquest of most of Portugal's Asian colonies, Ceylon included, between 1638 and 1658.
January 1659: Jaffna is taken by the Dutch in 1658.
January 1672: Rajasinha attempted to negotiate an alliance with France, who seized Trincomalee.
January 1673: Dutch conquest of Trincomalee.
January 1762: In 1761, however, Kirti Sri Rajasinha launched a major invasion of the low country, annexing Matara and Hanwella.
January 1763: The Dutch re-captured Matara and Hanwella in 1762.
January 1764: In 1763, the Dutch forces, led by Governor Van Eck, invaded the city of Kandy in Ceylon. The Kandyans, led by King Kirti Sri Rajasinha, evacuated Senkadagala to avoid capture, prompting the Dutch to set the city ablaze.
February 1764: In 1764, the Dutch forces led by Governor Van Eck and King Kirti Sri Rajasinha of the Kingdom of Kandy clashed in the city of Kandy. The Dutch invaded Kandy from two directions, causing the Kandyans to retreat from Senkadagala, which was then set on fire by the Dutch.
January 1766: By 1765 the Dutch were in a position to force a treaty upon the Kandyans returning not only the border districts but all of Kandy's coastal provinces to the Dutch. Henceforth, the kingdom would be effectively cut off from the outside world.
December 1817: Kandy definitively lost its autonomy following the Uva Rebellion of 1817.
January 1826: The Dutch ceded Tuticorn to the British in 1825.
February 1948: In 1948, the British Colony of Ceylon was granted independence as Ceylon.
May 1972: Ceylon was renamed "Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka".
September 1978: Establishment of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
Selected Sources
Fernández Álvarez, M. (1998): Felipe II y su tiempo, cuarta edición, p. 523
de Oliveira Marques , A. H. R.(1972): History of Portugal, Columbia University Press, p. 322-325
sri-lanka
