Battle for Colombo Port- May 1521
The port and the fortress of Colombo 17th century
The Colombo Port City has become the most discussed topic of the day. Few may remember that exactly 500 years ago an armed conflict to control the port of Colombo took place between the Portuguese and the local forces, which changed the history of the island forever.
Although the Portuguese set foot in Sri Lanka in 1505, they made a definite decision to build a fortress at Colombo port only in 1518 and King Manouel of Portugal ordered the new Viceroy of India Lopo Soarez, to do so. This order was made at the royal council in Lisbon, as it was thought that there were opportunities to improve the cinnamon trade with the island. In September 1518 the Viceroy left Cochin, travelling with 17 ships with 850 Portuguese to Colombo.
The port of Colombo came into prominence after the ancient civilization of the Sinhalese in Rajarata collapsed in the 13th Century and people began to move to the southwest regions of the island. When Sri Jayawardanepura Kotte became the capital city in the early 15th Century, the port of Colombo became the most important harbour in the island. Being the closest harbour to Kotte, it became the centre of the country’s spice, gem, pearl, and ivory trade.
Sailing towards Colombo, Viceroy Lopo Soarez observed that close to its harbour, there was a horn-like projection into the sea suitable to build a fortress. There was a large body of water (Beira Lake) separating most of this from the rest of the land. The Viceroy thought that if a ditch was made, that piece of land would get cut off from the rest of the land, compelling outsiders to enter it only over the ditch.
Landing in Colombo the Viceroy immediately sent Joam Flores, a Portuguese messenger to Kotte, stating that they had a desire to build a fortress there. The messenger who met King Vijayabahu of Kotte, stated that by trading with the Portuguese, his kingdom would have access to markets in the west. He said that the King of Cochin had become immensely rich within a short period through such trade. In return, the Portuguese could give protection to his kingdom and bring goods from Europe. Convinced, the King decided to come to Colombo and meet the Viceroy.
When the King and his entourage came to Colombo, people flocked to the streets to see him, as it was a novelty for the king to come to their city. Colombo’s populationthen consisted of a mixture of different ethnicities. In addition to the Sinhalese, there was a significant number of Muslims, Tamils and Malayalis. People from various countries in Asia and Africa too lived in the city, as it was an important trading centre. Muslims were the main trade competitors of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean and many battles had occurred between them in the Indian Ocean.
The Viceroy met the King in Colombo and sought permission to build a fortress in Colombo. After much thought, the King informed that he did not want to deliver the final word on the matter without consulting his council.
People rise against the Portuguese
When King Vijayabahu returned to Kotte, Muslims made representations to him and the royal court pleading with him not to heed the Portuguese request. They said that the Portuguese had come with the intention of extracting the island’s riches, spreading their religion, and ultimately wanted to oust the king and capture power. The Muslims had lived on the island in harmony for centuries, only engaging in trading activities and never attempted to spread their religion. The Buddhist monks (called Ganez in Portuguese chronicles) told the royal court that they agreed with the Muslims and were against the Portuguese move to build a fortress.
King Vijayabahu was reluctant to take a final decision. Agitated by the delay, the Sinhalese and Muslims, with the help of Buddhist priests, held protests in the city of Colombo. The people erected barricades and began to shoot arrows at the Portuguese garrison, killing a few Portuguese soldiers. The Portuguese retaliated by firing artillery guns, killing many locals. Afterward the Portuguese began to build the fort without the King’s permission.
The King grants permission
Alarmed by the lethal firepower of the Portuguese, the King granted permission for them to build the fort at the hill of Saint Laurence close to the harbour. In return, he wanted the Portuguese to protect him from his enemies. An agreement was signed between the two countries, a cop ymade in gold for the Kingdom of Kotte while that of Portugal was made in parchment.
While the fortress was being built, there were constant skirmishes between the Portuguese on one side and Sinhalese and Muslims on the other. After building the fortress Lopo Soarez named it the Fort of Santa Babara. He left for India in November 1518, stationing a Portuguese force of 100 soldiers and four ships in Colombo with Joao de Silveveryra who came from Maldives as its Captain-Major.
This fort constantly came under attack from the Muslims. In retaliation, the Portuguese attacked the Muslim and Sinhalese settlements close to the fort. Buddhist monks of Kotte Kingdom too were constantly making representations to the king, against the Portuguese. The Portuguese retaliated to joint attacks by the Sinhalese and Muslims by burning houses. These confrontations made King Vijayabahu hostile to the Portuguese.
Making the fortress stronger
Initially built with stone and clay, the fort was about to collapse within a year. In 1519, the new Captain-Major of Colombo Lopo de Brito began to rebuild a stronger fortress with stone and mortar. From the day construction began the Portuguese encountered heavy resistance from the locals. They refrained from supplying provisions to the Portuguese troops. Soldiers were attacked when they were found alone.
In retaliation, in June 1519 at noontime when people were having a siesta, Lopo de Brito attacked the city of Colombo with 150 Portuguese, with the intention of intimidating and scaring the inhabitants. He bound women and children to poles, set fire to the main street of Colombo and returned to the fort with looted items.
Attacking the Fortress – May 1521
The confrontations were constant and again in 1520 the Portuguese retaliated, with fresh reinforcements received from Goa. Unable to remain silent and to help the residents of Colombo, on the 7th May 1521, (the 500th anniversary of which falls this year), King Vijayabahu surrounded the Fort and laid siege with a large force of 20,000 soldiers and 600 gunmen. They constructed two bastions on which they placed artillery guns.The Kotte army had 150 cavalrymen and 25 war elephants with castles fixed on their backs. Four of these war elephants were ferocious and had swords fixed to their tusks.
Lopo de Brito ordered his gunmen to fire at these elephants, wounding them with spikes which resulted in the elephants turning against their own army. In this siege about 80 Portuguese who had defected to the Kotte side by then, fought against their own countrymen. The bowmen of Kotte fired 7 foot long wooden arrows with feathers made of wild boar leather, which could fly to a distance of 150 metres. The rain of arrows came day and night and fire arrows fell inside the fort burning thatched houses. The Portuguese retaliated with cannon fire.
The siege lasted five months. Even obtaining water from outside the Fort became a problem, as the well from which the Portuguese were drinking was poisoned by the Muslims.
Two messengers who were sent to frantically seek reinforcements from Goa, were caught by the king’s soldiers. The messages they were carrying were read and translated to the king by some Portuguese soldiers, who had defected. When a few messengers reached Goa the first response they got was that they were unable to send reinforcements to Colombo, as they were fighting wars in the Indian Ocean.
The defeat
Finally, reinforcements arrived from Cochin in October 1521 with Antonio Fernao de Lamos as the new Captain Major of Colombo. Strengthened, the Portuguese retaliated with 300 soldiers and set fire to the city, burning down two large mosques. Many captains of the Kotte army were killed in the battle and finally the Kotte army withdrew, lifting the siege. Eventually, a truce was signed between the two parties, who were weary of the continuing war which had caused much damage to both parties. This action made King Vijayabahu become unpopular among his army.
In the same year when King Vijayabahu’s sons Buvanekabahu, Mayadunne and Raigam Bandara rebelled against him due to a palace intrigue, the king’s army joined the rebels. King Vijayabahu was killed and his palace was looted by his own soldiers, which incident became famous in our history as the “Vijayaba Kollaya”.
The battle for Colombo Fort which was fought exactly 500 years ago was a definite turning point in the history of Sri Lanka, as it ensured the continuous presence of Europeans in the island for the next 450 years.
(This narration was entirely based on the description of events well documented in “The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon” written by the Catholic priest Fernaõ de Queyroz of the Society of Jesus and the “The Decades” written by Portuguese chroniclers Borros and Cuoto).
Dr Ajith Amarasinghe is a medical consultant and an independent researcher on history. He is a life member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka.