Arrival of Portuguese

Kamalika PIERIS

V.L.B. Mendis points out that the Portuguese did not get to Sri Lanka accidentally. In the years following Vasco da Gama’s voyage, the Portuguese had heard of the importance of Sri Lanka as a source for fine cinnamon, elephants and gems, and that the Muslims at Malabar were trading with Sri Lanka.

They saw that Sri Lanka was strategically located. It was midway between the Portuguese possessions of Socotra and Ormuz on west and Malacca on the east. All the vessels sailing in from east went past Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka also commanded both coasts of India. King Manuel of Portugal (1495-1521) had told Dom Francisco Almeida who was going out as first Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in India to send a mission to Sri Lanka.

There was some doubt as to the date on which the Portuguese arrived. Was it 1501, 1505 or 1506, and did they arrive in Galle or Colombo? All doubts ended with the finding of a Spanish pamphlet of Juan Augur, dated 1512.

This gives a first hand count of the arrival. He says the Portuguese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1506. They landed in Colombo. Dharma Parakrama bahu IX (1489-1513) was king. The Portuguese had accidentally hit Sri Lanka while intercepting trade convoys from south East Asia. There was no tribute, but an exchange of gifts between the two groups.

Pieris says the arrival of the flotilla of white strangers was immediately reported to court where the reputation of the Portuguese had preceded them.

Vasco da Gama had reached India in 1498. Panikkar says armada after armada had come in unending succession to India under trained captains.

The Sinhala king would have known of the arrival of the Portuguese in India. The information would have come from Calicut and Cochin. The Sinhala king therefore knew who his visitors were.

The Rajavaliya account of strange persons who ate stone and drank blood cannot be accepted.

When the arrival of the Portuguese was reported, a council of state was summoned at which the four brothers of the king and the chief minister met to discuss the news.

One of the brothers had gone in disguise and checked on the new comers, and on his reports it was decided to receive them amicably.

They asked the Portuguese to present themselves at court. Dom Lourenco sent back a message that he had driven out of his course, and he would be glad to open friendly trade. The king directed that a representative should be sent to discuss matters with him.

The Sinhalese led the Portuguese representative by a circuitous route but the representative realized that he was close to the sea because he had arrange to have a cannon fired at fixed intervals until he returned.

The audience took place at night. According to the Portuguese sources, the audience hall was huge. The door frames were massive. They were of elaborately carved stone. The hall was hung with rich fabrics and there were lamps and torches on stands.

Two rows of Mudaliyars stood on either side, in rich attire with their swords and shields. There was a Lion Throne of ivory set on six stages. The king wore a long white tunic, and on his head there sat a sort of mitre studded with gems and pearls. “A profusion of rubies, diamonds and emeralds covered his fingers and weighed down his ears till they nearly reached his shoulders.’ His sandals were also decked with rubies.

Historians doubt that on the first visit, there was a treaty though the Portuguese chronicles say so. Queyroz says the king had agreed to pay tribute of cinnamon and rubies.

Historians note that the titles and destinations used by Queyroz are not usual for Sinhalese kings.

There no evidence to indicate the existence of a treaty.

Pieris says Portuguese got a sannas on a sheet of gold, promising four hundred bares of cinnamon a year. Mendis says the cinnamon was not a tribute, rather a contract to serve as a basis of friendship.

The 17 century Sinhala poem ‘Maha hatana’ of Kirimetiyawa has a story that it was the Portuguese who promised tribute in return for a plot of land to build a fort on. Abeyasinghe says this is more plausible.

For their journey back, to Goa the Sinhala king sent two small elephants, fowls, plantains and tender coconuts and other fruits sufficient for the journey. The cinnamon and one of the small elephants reached Lisbon.

The next visit was in 1518, when Vijayabahu VI (1513-1521) was king. G.V.P. Somaratne says that on the second visit the Portuguese landed at Colombo not Galle.

Portuguese captain Albergaria arrived with a flotilla of seventeen ships with about 700-1000 soldiers, material and workmen. With the consent of the Sinhala king, the Portuguese built a factory which was garrisoned.

This was actually a fortification similar to those the Portuguese had built elsewhere. Bandu de Silva says this was a demonstration of power.

He notes that the Portuguese did not come as mere peaceful traders. This fort was constructed out of wood. In 1519 the Portuguese sent a report to Portugal on the trade prospects and conditions of the country, and the elephants and pearl fishery and the port of Colombo.

In 1520 Lopo de Brito arrived from Portugal with four hindered men including stone masons, and carpenters, with special orders to construct a proper fort,

The fort was enlarged, ‘amidst much opposition’ into a stone fort mounted with canon.

It had a moat which ran from sea to sea converting the fort into a tiny island. In 1521, Vijayabahu waged a war against this fort. He was trying to get rid of the Portuguese.

The attack failed but the fort was dismantled in 1524 and the Portuguese went and settled in Sri Jayawardene pura (Kotte.)

The writings of TB H. Abeyasinghe, C.R. de Silva, D G B. de Silva, V L.B. Mendis, K.M. Panikkar, P E .Pieris, G V P .Somaratne and K D G. Wimalaratne were used for this essay.