Proud and prejudiced - Ferdinandus

THE PORTUGUESE 13
In the wars against King Rajasinha II and his ally the V.O.C. (Dutch East India
Company) between 1635 and 1638, Portugal lost over 4000 fighting men in battles at sea and
on land and received only 500 in replacement. Quality was also very poor with soldiers
untrained, in their early teens, and often shipped direct on sentencing for petty crimes, or from
the jails in Portugal. On arrival in Goa they were often coaxed into Holy Orders by the Jesuits
and Franciscans who were also desperately short of priests. Ceylon was the only country in
Portugal's Eastern Empire where European troops fought one another and the Portuguese were
always at a disadvantage in numbers.
King Rajasinha II defeated the Portuguese at Gannoruwa (Peradeniya) in 1638 and
when Dutch Governor-General van Dieman in Batavia learned of this he decided the time was
right to expel the Portuguese from Ceylon and take over their trade. In 1638, and after long
negotiations, Admiral Westerwold arrived in Batticoloa, travelled to Kandy and negotiated a
treaty with King Rajasinha. About the same time the Dutch general, de Coster, arrived to attack
Galle. King Rajasinha wanted the Dutch to attack Colombo but the Dutch decided they were
not strong enough to attack Galle or Colombo without Kandyan help and instead sailed to
Trincomalee where they attacked and forced the fifty defenders to surrender. Two Kandyan
mudaliyars later arrived with 3000 men and demanded that de Coster hand over Trincomalee
and the captives. De Coster refused and again efused when asked to sail to Jaffna and conquer
the Portuguese fort there. De Coster instead sailed away to Batavia (now Jakarta).
Agreements between the Sinhalese and the Portuguese and Dutch invariably resulted in
subsequent recriminations and accusations of dishonesty, bad faith and unfair dealings.
Whether this was due to language, translation, commercial interests or some other reason, the
relationship was never comfortable, trusting or long lasting.
In the years that followed, the Kandyans and Dutch between them gradually expelled
the Portuguese. In 1638 Trincomalee and then Batticoloa were handed to the Kandyan king. In
1640 the Dutch captured Galle after a bloody siege of eighteen days. The Portuguese defended
the city so valiantly that the Commander, the 700 Portuguese and their slaves were transferred
to Batavia with all their possessions pending transhipment to other Portuguese possessions. The
Sinhalese defenders were delivered to King Rajasinha for punishment by execution. The
Portuguese held Galle for only forty-three years.
The next fort to fall was Negombo. It was defended by a few old, sick and disabled
Portuguese who refused to surrender and the Dutch had to blow-up the gates. Lucasz, the Dutch
general, then began the process of repairing the fort. The King protested and wanted it
destroyed because his copy of the Westerwold treaty had the words 'if the king is so disposed'.
Lucasz refused saying that these words were not in his copy. The king said forts were not
necessary because the Portuguese were no longer there, but Lucasz said forts were necessary to
prevent the Portuguese from coming back. It was then that the King is said to have remarked
'We gave pepper and in exchange got ginger'. Translated, it meant that he had exchanged one
bad bargain for another.
To collect cinnamon, spices and elephants the Dutch assembled an organisation for the
Galle district. The Portuguese were saved from further attacks by the conclusion of a truce in
Europe between the Batavian Republic (Holland) and Portugal. The Dutch held on to the
captured territories because they said the Kandyan king had not