suffered a debacle in this battle too due the usual
attacks of the Kandyans. Even Diago De Melo,
who led the battle, was killed. There are records
about the number of the Portuguese soldiers left.
Everyone of them mentions that only less than
one hundred Portuguese soldiers were left. And
also, it was the last invasion of the Portuguese led
to capture the Kandyan kingdom.
There are reasons which affected the failure of
the invasions of the Portuguese and protection
of the Kandyan kingdom further.
- The frequent support of the Kandyan people
to the king. - The people from low - country, who went
to support the Portuguese in the invasions,
rejoined the king. - The warfare of the Kandyan people and the
strategies of the kings. - The natural location of the Kandyan
kingdom.
10.3 Sri Lanka and the Dutch
Holland is the motherland of the Dutch. After
about a century of the Portuguese arrival to Asia,
the Dutch started to come to Asia by finding the
sea routes of the Portuguese. In early period,
various trade companies in Holland had come to
Asia and since there was a competition among
the Holland trade companies, the Dutch could
not establish a strong power in Asia. Therefore,
in 1602 several Holland companies got together
and established East Holland Trade Company
alias VOC Company. From then on the political
and commercial affairs in Asia for the Dutch
were conducted by the VOC Company. As the
prime purpose of a trade company is to make
profits, it is clear that the main objective of the
Dutch to come to Asia was to gain economic
benefits.
The Dutch, who came to Asia, made their centre
in Batavia on the Island of Java and started their
power in the east. Before long after the arrival
of the Dutch to Asia, they paid their attention
to Sri Lanka, which had trade items such as,
cinnamon and pepper of good standard. As the
kings of Kandy, who were suffering from the
struggles from the Portuguese, wished to build
relations with the Dutch, they could know more
information about Sri Lanka by coming to this
country.In 1602, Jorris Van Spilbergeon, a representative
of the Dutch came to Sri Lanka and met king
Wimaladharmasooriya I. Afterwards another
representative named Sibil De Vert came. But
these missions did not give any successful
results. The successful relationships were
started between the Dutch and the Kandyan
rulers during the time of king Rajasinghe II.
The purpose of king Rajasinghe II was to expel
the Portuguese from this country because they
always fought with Kandy. Since he did not have
enough naval power to do that, he thought of
getting assistance of the Dutch.As a result of the letters which exchanged
between king Rajasinghe II and the Dutch and
the missions, the Dutch agreed to assist to expel
the Portuguese from the country. According to an
agreement between the Lankan representatives
and the Dutch naval commanding officer
Westworld, both sides got together and attacked
the Portuguese fort in Batticaloa in 1638. But,
the Portuguese in the fort surrendered before
it turned to be a disastrous battle. Therefore,
king Rajasinghe II, who was overjoyed with this,
entered into a bond with the Dutch.The Fundamental Facts of the 1638 Kandy-
Dutch Agreement- The Dutch agreed to assist the Kandyan king
to expel the Portuguese from this country. - The king agreed to pay the money
which was spent by the Dutch by the
trade items. (cinnamon, pepper, etc.) - The Dutch had the right of monopoly of the
Kandyan trade items except for the tuskers. - Occupation of the Dutch army in the forts
retrieved from the Portuguese if the king agreed.