Written by Marco Ramerini For more information on the Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon you can contact: Victor Melder at: VICTOR MELDER SRI LANKA LIBRARY 7, Benambra Street Broadmeadows, Vic 3047 Australia Web site: www.vmsl-library.com The library has the entire set of the Dutch Burgher Union Journals, published from 1908 to date and […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. DUTCH AND PORTUGUESE REMAINS IN NORTHERN SRI LANKA JAFFNA The Portuguese built the fortress Nossa Senhora dos Milagres in 1560. Jaffna was the last place in Portuguese hands in Ceylon. They lost it in 1658. The Dutch strengthened the fort around 1680. The old Dutch […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The history of the Dutch in Ceylon began during the command of Admiral Joris van Spilbergen on 31 May 1602, when the first Dutch ships, which visited Ceylon, anchored off the port of Batticaloa. The Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque started right from the beginning […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The first British occupation and the definitive Dutch surrender 9.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY CONSULTED MATERIAL You can also look for the sources quoted in the notes. SOURCES: – Various Authors “Livro das plantas, das fortalezas, cidades e povoações do Estado da Índia Oriental”, 1991 Codex […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The consolidation of the Dutch presence 8.0 THE FIRST BRITISH OCCUPATION AND THE DEFINITIVE DUTCH SURRENDER In December 1780 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland declared war to The Netherlands. The news reached Ceylon in June 1781 and some preparations were […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The French attempt 7.0 THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE DUTCH PRESENCE This period of instability resulted in a remarkable decrease of the volume of commerce, dealt with Trincomalee. The figures of this decline are inconsistent, but it seems that in the first ten years […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The new Dutch occupation and the reconstruction of the Fort 6.0 THE FRENCH ATTEMPT A new threat encumbered on the Dutch possessions of Ceylon, it materialized in March 1672 in the shape of a great French fleet, that of admiral de la Haye. […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The Dutch conquest and the abandonment of the Fort 5.0 THE NEW DUTCH OCCUPATION AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FORT During the subsequent years it is likely that the Dutch maintained only a small fortified outpost in Kottiyar Bay 1, but also this […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The arrival of the Danes, the Dutch and the construction of the Portuguese Fort 4.0 THE DUTCH CONQUEST AND THE ABANDONMENT OF THE FORT The first attack of the Dutch on the Portuguese forts of Ceylon was directed towards the eastern coast of […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Continued from: The first contacts with the Portuguese 3.0 THE ARRIVAL OF THE DANES, THE DUTCH AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PORTUGUESE FORT The strategic importance of the control over the bays and the ports on the eastern coast of Ceylon discovered, it was clear […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. INDEX: 1.0 The History of Trincomalee during Portuguese and Dutch rule: Introduction. 2.0 Trincomalee: The first contacts with the Portuguese. 3.0 Trincomalee: The arrival of the Danes, the Dutch and the construction of the Portuguese Fort. 4.0 Trincomalee: The Dutch conquest and the abandonment of […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Dietrich Köster. The city of Galle is located along the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka, about 120 km south of Colombo. Here first the Portuguese, and then the Dutch had built a fort to control the bay. The Portuguese sacked Galle in 1587 and then in 1597 built a […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. Photos by Krzysztof Kudlek. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The city of Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese in 1511. Soon after the conquest of the city, which was the most important commercial port in Asia, Afonso de Albuquerque built a fortress to defend the new Portuguese possession. The first […]
Photos by Magiel Venema. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. The Dutch have never had control over the Portuguese colony of Macao. But despite this they have used this Portuguese outpost in China for their trade. This is evidenced by the numerous tombs Dutch in the two ancient cemeteries of the city: the Roman Catholic cemetery and […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. English translation of a small part of my work entitled “La presenza Spagnola alle Isole Molucche, 1606-1663”. In the propositions of the governor of the Philippines, Don Juan de Silva, a big joint expedition of Spaniards and Portuguese should succeed in getting rid of the […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. In 1650 the VOC possessed only the unfortified factories in Kayamkulam and Cannanore. But at the end of the hostilities with the Portuguese in 1663 the Dutch became the new rulers of the Malabar Coast. They possessed military outposts at 11 places: Alleppey, Ayacotta, Cheramangalam, […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. FORTE DO BRUM One of the most important remains of the Dutch rule in northeast Brazil is the Forte do Brum (Fort de Bruyne), on the northern end of Recife island. The fort was originally started to built in 1629 by the Portuguese, when the […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Recife is now the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. Until the 17th century the city was a small village near the capital of the Capitania of Pernambuco, Olinda. In 1630 with the Dutch conquest of northeastern Brazil, Olinda was burned by the Dutch, […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. Fort Orange is situated 60 km north of Recife (Pernambuco). In this area the Portuguese founded a trading factory (feitoria) in 1516. On 1 September 1534 the King of Portugal created the “capitania” of Itamaracá. It was given to the donatarian Pero Lopez de Sousa. […]
Written by Marco Ramerini. English text revision by Dietrich Köster. THE AMAZON SETTLEMENTS In 1600, according to Ioannes De Laet, the Dutch possessed two wooden forts (Fort Nassau and Fort Oranje) on the eastern shore of the Xingu River. These had been built by colonists from Zeeland. In 1616, a Zeeland expedition under the command […]