Dutch Fort at Batticaloa

Dutch Fort at Batticaloa

Attribution:

World Monuments Fund

BATTICALOA

SRI LANKA

Key Dates

A Buddhist stupa and shatra from the Ruhuna Kingdom date back to the 1st Century BC.

The Dutch developed a fort there in 1628.

It was damaged in the 2004 tsunami.

The Fort of Batticaloa is on a small island on the east coast of Sri Lanka, 69 miles south by south east of Trincomalee. Its local name is Mada Kalapuwa, which means "muddy lagoon" in Sinhala, after the inland lagoon over which it looks. Although the site gets its name from a Dutch settlement built there in 1628, it has important ancient religious significance because of a Buddhist stupa and a a dagaba and Chatra from the Ruhuna kingdom of King Kavantissa.

The City of Batticaloa has had a violent recent history. Claimed by the Tamil separatist guerilla group, the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) as part of their homeland, it has been the scene of conflict, murder, and kidnapping. In 2004, it was one of the towns hit worst by the December 26 tsunami. It is now listed on the World Monuments Fund 2010's Monuments Watch List.

The Dutch Fort in Batticaloa

The Dutch Fort in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, and the Carlisle Memorial Methodist Church in Belfast, Northern Ireland, illustrate some of the ways in which heritage conservation can bring together fractured communities.

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2∫_new=33755

Batticaloa road was built entirely with EU funds amounting to 110 million euros.

During the tsunami the Committee authorised emergency funding worth 370 million euros through its Emergency Fund to the affected countries including Sri Lanka. The Matara - Batticaloa road was built entirely with EU funds amounting to 110 million euros. This is one of the many projects carried out in the rebuilding and reconstruction process soon after the 2004 tsunami.

Batticaloa was under the Sinhalese kings – in 1505 – and not under any Tamil king.

Around 1505 when the Portuguese took over the south and harassed Arab traders who were running businesses there. The Arabs complained to the Sinhalese King and the king gave them land on the East coast, where they still live today. This proves the East, Batticaloa and Trincomalee were also under the Sinhalese kings – in 1505 – and not under any Tamil king.

When the Dutch arrived in 1637 they signed a deal with the Sinhalese King to have berthing rights for their ships in harbours on the East coast, Trincomalee and Batticaloa during the monsoon rains, proving that the eastern costal regions belonged to the Sinhalese in 1637.- and not to any Tamil Kingdom ..

When in 1660 Robert Knox’s father’s ship “Anne” stopped over at the eastern port of Trincomalee , Sinhalese soldiers arrested them and took them to their Sinhalese King, proving that in 1660 the east was under a Sinhalese King. Robert Knox and his friend Stephen Rutland lived among the Sinhalese (mostly in Kandy ) for over 17 years. Robert Knox wrote “Robert Knox in the Kandyan Kingdom ” a book about the Sinhalese he met. Nothing about Tamils or any Tamil kingdom is mentioned.

Portuguese historian De Queyroz in “Conquest of Ceylon ” says “As long as Anuradhapure was the capital, the whole island was subject to one King – There were fifteen kinglets, Dinvaca, Valave, Putaloa, Trinquilimale, Batecaloa, Candea and Jaffnapatam”. ( Anuradhapura was the capital of Sinhalese Kings)

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2009/10/02/the-myth-of-eelam-dream/