Category Archives: Dutch colonialism

François Valentijn’s Description of Ceylon

Thiru Arumugam in The Ceylankan Vol 26/3, August 2023, where  the title reads “François Valentijn wrote a 462 page ‘Description of Ceylon’ 300 years ago … Part 2” ……… Part 1 having appeared in The Ceylankan J 102 Vol 26(2) May 2023, pp 24-25. …..  also by Thiru Arumugam

First and Second Chapters [Geography] For his sources of information about the geography and history of Ceylon up to the Portugueseperiod, Valentijn relies on the Portuguese writer Diogo do Couto’s Ceylon section of his books Decadas da Asia (Decades of Asia)5. Couto was Chief Keeper of the Records in Goa from 1595 to 1616. Goa was the Asian headquarters of the Portuguese. Valentijn also took information from the Dutch writer Father Philippus Baldeus6, who lived in Jaffna from about 1656 to 1665. For the description of the interior of Ceylon he relies on Robert Knox7, as the Portuguese and Dutch had limited access to these areas. There was a pirated Dutch translation of Knox’s book by S de Vries published in Utrecht in 1692 and Valentijn would have used this translation. Valentijn plagiarised freely, sometimes copying entire sections from these books. In those halcyon pre-copyright days, the printed word was considered public property!

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A “Fernandopulle” from Sri Lanka brightens Aussie Headlines

Frontpage Headline in THE AUSTRALIAN, 17 July 2023 = “Students take housing shortage to next level”

“Internaional students Isi Larraguibel, Rowen Fernandopulle, Jaden Amba and Rois Maullers in Brisbane on Sunday”

 

…. visit … https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE …. AND TRY TO  negotiate their money-seeking hoops if you wish to read the whole article

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 François Valentijn’s Book on Ceylon in 1724-26

Thiru Arumugam, in The CEYLANKAN, 2023, where the heading runs thus: “François Valentijn wrote a 462 page ‘Description of Ceylon’ 300 years ago” 

Part 1: Francois Valentijn (1666–1727), Fig. 1, was a Dutch Calvinist Minister employed by the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie or VOC) which established its Asian base in Batavia, which is present day Jakarta in Indonesia. Between 1724 and 1726 he published a book in Dutch titled Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien1 (Old and New East Indies) which was in five volumes and eight books in all. The book describes various countries including Ceylon. His description of Ceylon is in Volume 5 and is 462 pages long. The interesting point is that he never set foot in Ceylon!

D98PE4 Ds. Francois Valentijn, famous for his voluminous work on the Dutch East India Company, a clever compilation from essays or studies, written by others. His book contains a lengthy chapter under the heading ‘Descriptions of the Cape of Good Hope’, 1726.

 

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The Galle Fort: Skyrocketing Property Today

DG Sugathapala, in Daily Mirror, 9 June 2023 “Value of a perch in Galle Fort increased to Rs. 22mn”

More than one hundred buildings, located within the Galle Fort, have been purchased by foreigners, increasing the value of one perch to Rs 22 million, the Galle Heritage Foundation said. With this development, the population within the fort, which used to be around three thousand, has decreased to around 1000.

 

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How the Kandyan Sinhalese Forces Kept the European Powers at Bay for Two Centuries

PK Balachandran, whose original article in the Daily Mirror of 26 November 2021, is entitled “Kandyan armies which kept Europeans at bay for two centuries”

The Kandyan army also had local Malays and Kaffirs (Africans) and also Indians like Malabars, Tamils, Telugus, and Canarese (Karnatakas).  There was also an assortment of European deserters and prisoners. These mercenaries also served in the armies of European powers.

Kandyan peasant warriors. Codice Casanatense Sinhalese warriors. Wikiwand

The Kandyan Kingdom’s dogged resistance to European invaders from the 17th century to the second decade of the 19th century has not received the attention it deserves from military historians, laments historian Dr. Channa Wickremesekera, the author of “Kandy at War: Indigenous Military Resistance to European Expansion in Sri Lanka 1594-1818.

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The Richmond vs Mahinda Teams of 1955 in A Classic Gathering

Courtesy of Nandasiri Jasentuliyane,** who was known to us then as N. De Silva 

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Galle Fort Today: Its Western Ramparts in the Sun

Amateur Camerawork by Michael Roberts, in Early April 2023

 I  was fortunate to benefit from the hospitality of Moninna and Gamini Goonewardena of Parawa Street and took the opportunity to record some of the work with autistic teenagers & children that was conducted at ECSAT in Wakwella Rd on the Friday (easily the most vital event during my stay).
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Galle Fort & Its Peoples in Black & White

Gagno’s Searing Camerawork

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The Origins of Burgher & Malay Surnames in Colonial Ceylon

Author Unknown … sent to Thuppahi by Kodi Kodituwakku of Chandos St, Fort, Galle

The Ceylon Burgher Community is the finest exponent of this European onoma-tology in Sri Lanka, as the members of the community carry some of the world’s rarest surnames which at present verge on extinction. The ancestors of the Dutch Burghers were not necessaril.y Dutch by ethnic origin as the Dutch East India Company [recruited] hundreds of mercenaries from all parts of Europe who later reached the shores of Lanka to strengthen the Dutch garrisons on the Island. These Europeans later espoused local women and paved the way for the Lankan Eurasian Community, which later came to be known as ‘Dutch Burghers’ meaning ‘Town Dwellers’.

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The Mudaliyar Class Goyigama Family Combine in Colonial & Independent Sri Lanka

Mevan Pieris serves up a Synopsis of his Book prior to Its Launching

Synopsis of the book on The Communityto be launched at The Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Independence Square, on 21st March, at 6 pm, with Professor GL Peiris as Chief Guest, and S. Skandakumar and Warden Marc Billimoria as Guests of Honour.

‘The Community” is a historical account of the Mudaliyar Class Goyigama Family Combine, the existence of which has been already reported by several eminent writers, and about which Michael Dias, the celebrated Law Don of Cambridge, has written to say, “the precise relationship from amongst the complex family affinities that made the extended Community………. defies simple definition”. This work has not only attempted to shed much light on the evolution of the Community, but has also portrayed its Master Spirits to provide a greater appreciation of the stupendous contributions made by them to society in various fields and ways.

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