Discusses the effects of the arrival of the Portuguese in Sri Lanka in 1506.

Zoltan Biedermann's book explores the Portuguese presence in Sri Lanka and South India with an emphasis on connections, interactions and adaptations. An introduction, six freshly revised case studies and an afterword provide historical insights into the making of Portuguese power in the region and point out new ways forward in the study of the subject. Themes explored include Portuguese diplomacy in Asia, the connected histories of Portugal, Sri Lanka and the Habsburg Empire, the importance of cartography for the development of Iberian ideas of conquest, the political mechanisms that allowed for the incorporation of Sri Lanka into the Catholic Monarchy of Philip II, and the remarkable resilience of elephant hunting and trading activities in Ceylon during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A long chapter delves into the comparative urban histories of Portuguese and Dutch colonial ports in South Asia and reveals intriguing connections between colonialism, local identities and cosmopolitan attitudes. Taken together, the essays in this book question simplistic contrasts between Europe and Asia as well as between the Portuguese and the Dutch empires. The Portuguese in Sri Lanka and South Asia highlights the complex connections between the global and the local in early modern European-Asian interactions.

The Story Of The Portuguese In Ceylon Is Of More Than Local Interest, For It Depicts For Us A Characteristic Phase Of The Beginning Of European Expansion In The East. A Hundred And Fifty Three Years After The Portuguese First Landed In Ceylon They Were Expelled From The Country, Leaving The Gloomy Word Failure Writ Large Over All Their Actions. That However Was Not All, For They Left The Sinhalese A Broken Race, With Their Ancient Civilization Brought Ot The Verge Of Ruin, And Their Scheme Of Life Well-Nigh Destroyed.