Between 1518 and 1658, armed conflict took place between the native Sinhalese kingdoms of Sri Lanka, and the Portuguese Empire. It spanned from the Transitional to the Kandyan periods of Sri Lankan hi
The Portuguese army at Kandy during the campaign of Danture, by Philippus Baldaeus
Lithograph of a 1501 Portuguese inscription on a boulder in Colombo
Plan view of Portuguese Colombo, made in 1650
A Portuguese illustration of Sinhalese warriors, produced c. 1540
Kingdom of Sitawaka
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The Kingdom of Sitawaka was a Sinhalese kingdom located in south-central Sri Lanka. It emerged from the division of the Kingdom of Kotte following the Spoiling of Vijayabahu in 1521. Over the course o
Sinhalese–Portuguese conflicts
…ruling other areas. These machinations gained the Portuguese control over the Kingdom of Kotte starting in 1551. However the main beneficiary was the Kingdom of Sitawaka, was able to expand between 1521 and 1587 – through conquest of other native kingdoms – until it controlled most of Sri Lanka. Rajasinha I of Sitawaka…
Successive invasions found it difficult to assert their control over the mountainous and thickly forested terrain of the kingdom of Kandy