Polonnaruwa
The next capital, at Polonnaruwa, survived for over two centuries and
produced two more notable rulers. Parakramabahu I (r 1153–86), neph-
ew of Vijayabahu I, expelled the South Indian Tamil Chola empire from
Sri Lanka, and carried the fight to South India, even making a raid on
Myanmar. He also constructed many new tanks and lavished public
money to make Polonnaruwa a great Asian capital.
His benevolent successor, Nissanka Malla (r 1187–96), was the last king
of Polonnaruwa to care for the well-being of his people. He was followed
by a series of weak rulers, and with the decay of the irrigation system,
disease spread and Polonnaruwa was abandoned. The lush jungle re-
claimed the second Sinhalese capital in just a few decades.
After Polonnaruwa, Sinhalese power shifted to the southwest of the
island, and between 1253 and 1400 there were another five different
capitals, none of them as powerful as Anuradhapura or Polonnaruwa.
Meanwhile, the powerful kingdom of Jaffna expanded to cover a huge
part of the island; when Arab traveller Ibn Batuta visited Ceylon in 1344,
he reported that it extended south as far as Puttalam.
With the decline of the Sinhalese northern capitals and ensuing Sin-
halese migration south, a wide jungle buffer separated the northern,
mostly coastal Tamil settlements and the southern, interior Sinhalese
settlements. For centuries, this jungle barrier kept Sinhalese and Tamils
largely apart, sowing the seeds for Sri Lanka’s ethnic dichotomy.
Trade & Conquest
Enter the Portuguese
At the heart of the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka had been a trading hub even
before Arab traders arrived in the 7th century AD with their new Is-
lamic faith. Gems, cinnamon, ivory and elephants were the valued items
of commerce. Early Muslim settlements took hold in Jaffna and Galle,
but the arrival of a European power, focused as much on domination as
trade, forced many Muslims inland to flee persecution.
When the Portuguese arrived in 1505, Sri Lanka had three main king-
doms: the Tamil kingdom of Jaffna and Sinhalese kingdoms in Kandy
and Kotte (near Colombo). Lourenço de Almeida, the son of the Portu-
guese Viceroy of India, established friendly relations with the Kotte king-
dom and gained a monopoly on the valuable spice trade. The Portuguese
eventually gained control of the Kotte kingdom.
Tamil–Portuguese relations were less cordial, and Jaffna successfully
resisted two Portuguese expeditions before falling in 1619, at which point
the Portuguese destroyed Jaffna’s many beautiful Hindu temples and its
Descendants
of Mozambican
slaves brought
to Sri Lanka by
the portuguese
are almost totally
assimilated. Their
most obvious
contributions
to modern Sri
Lankan culture
are the folk tunes
called bailas, love
songs founded
on Latin melodies
and African
rhythms.7th–15th
century
Arab traders settle in
Sri Lanka, marrying
locally and establishing
Islam on the island.
They maintain trade
with the Middle East
and coexist peacefully
with both Tamils and
Sinhalese.11th century
Weary of continued
conflict with Tamil
neighbours, King
Vijayabahu I defeats
the Cholas and moves
the Sinhalese capital
southeast to polon-
naruwa; a brief golden
age follows.1216
As polonnaruwa
declines, the Tamil
kingdom of Jaffna is
established and briefly
becomes a feudatory
of South India’s pandya
kingdom before gaining
independence. It sur-
vives for four centuries.1505
Following polonnaru-
wa’s decline, Sinhalese
power is with the Kotte
in the southwest.
The portuguese arrive
and conquer the entire
west coast, but
Kandy defeats their
advances.Historyp
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Lo
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NARu
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