20 Facts About Dutch Ceylon

Dutch Ceylon was a governorate established in present-day Sri Lanka by the Dutch East India Company.

Dutch Ceylon were invited by the Sinhalese to help fight the Portuguese.

The Dutch Ceylon captured Trinco from the French and controlled all the maritime provinces of the island.

Rajasinghe and the Dutch Ceylon were both playing a double game trying to outwit each other, and the treaty of 1638 was never implemented.

The Dutch Ceylon ruled all the Tamil provinces and brought Tanjore Tamil slaves to work in the cinnamon gardens in the Western Province and tobacco farms in Jaffna.

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The capital of Dutch Ceylon Coromandel was in Pulicat and they brought needed manpower from the Indian colonies.

The rest of Dutch Ceylon remained in the Buddhist majority and Hindu religions.

Dutch Ceylon were used by the Sinhalese king to take revenge on the Portuguese who wanted to expand their rule.

The coming of the Dutch Ceylon ensured that the Portuguese had two enemies to deal with, so that finally the Portuguese were forced to sign a treaty with the Dutch Ceylon and come to terms with their open economies.

Slowly, the Dutch became the rulers of coastal and outer areas of Ceylon and Indonesia, and the Portuguese were left with smaller pieces of territory than those of the Dutch and the English.

At that time the Dutch Ceylon were still at war with Portugal, who was in a personal union with Spain.

Under the Treaty the Dutch Ceylon were to have a monopoly over all trades except elephants.

About a century after the arrival of the Portuguese, the Dutch Ceylon too came to Asia in order to obtain trading commodities.

The Dutch Ceylon had establish a strong trading company called the United East Indian Company in order to implement their trading activities effectively and systematically.

Dutch Ceylon retained an area as compensation for the cost of war and gradually extended their land.

Dutch Ceylon was succeeded by Willem Jacob van der Graaff, an aggressive Dutch expansionist who attempted to extend the colonial borders well beyond established limits.

Dutch Ceylon should consider the British troops '… belonging to a power that is in friendship and alliance with their High Mightinesses, and who come to prevent the Colony from being invaded by the French'.

The defence of Dutch Ceylon was undertaken mainly by European mercenaries, in particular, the De Meuron Regiment: 1,000 men strong and for two-thirds consisting of Swiss soldiers.

Dutch Ceylon was administered by a Governor appointed by the Governor General of the Dutch East Indies.

Many of the Dutch Ceylon Burghers migrated to Australia after British rule ended in 1948 to take advantage of the White Australia policy due to their European descent.