With the destruction of the St. John front, a lot of Dutch soldiers lost their lives. Though the city did not fall with this blow, the Portuguese were utterly disgusted as famine, disease and loss of all hope plagued them. They thought of setting fire to the city along with the people in it. But [...]

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The Dutch flag flies in the fort of Colombo

This article is part of a continuing series on Sri Lankan history
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With the destruction of the St. John front, a lot of Dutch soldiers lost their lives. Though the city did not fall with this blow, the Portuguese were utterly disgusted as famine, disease and loss of all hope plagued them.

They thought of setting fire to the city along with the people in it. But a few who were far-sighted, opposed this idea. They raised white flags and sent delegates for a peace discussion. They went to meet the Dutch with white flags in hand.


As a lot of Dutch soldiers had already died in this attempt, they willingly accepted this request. Before King Rajasinghe could come to know, the Dutch discussed favourable conditions with the Portuguese and agreed to make peace.

This resulted in about 73 soldiers putting their arms down, on May 12, 1656. They went up to Hulftsdorf. The flag of the Dutch East India Company, was flying high in the city of Colombo.

The Dutch soldiers entered the city of Colombo. They forcefully chased away the soldiers of King Rajasinghe and guarded all the entrances. This incident made the king very angry. But unfortunately, he could not do anything. He just remained speechless.

By Halaliye Karunathilake
Edited and translated by Kamala Silva
Illustrated by Saman Kalubowila

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