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Chapter 2. Colombo Under Dutch Rule (1656 - 1796)

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Chapter 2. Colombo Under Dutch Rule (1656 - 1796) CHAPTER 2. COLOMBO UNDER DUTCH RULE (1656 - 1796) - -C vf - -• \ a //.: ♦* ------- a- 16 Chapter 2 - Dutch Period CHAPTER 2. COLOMBO UNDER DUTCH RULE (1656 - 1796) "The image of the eastern society reflected in travel literature of Valentijn's age was a combination of the exotic, the bizarre, the revolting and the fascinating" - S. Arasaratnam, Francois Valentijn's Description of Ceylon, 1978) The Portuguese occupation of Colombo came to an end with the siege of the fort in May 1656 under the direction of General Gerard Hulft (after whom Hulftsdorf, an area of Colombo is named). Raja Sinha II, the king of Kandy enlisted the help of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-lndische Compagnie or the VOC) who were in Java and Sumatra at the time, in ridding the island of the Portuguese menace. The Dutch laid siege to the fort for seven months in order to wrest control from the tenacious Portuguese. The Fort Under Siege 'The siege of the important town of Colombo, under the command of the Noble Gentleman Gerard Hulft'. The map drawn by Baldaeus, a Dutch missionary in 1672 (de Silva & Beumer, 1988). The map (figure 9) shows mainly the Dutch positions during the siege. It shows the dry ditches and the barrier built to cut off the Portuguese retreat from a southern gate called "Poorte Mapane" which opens towards the present Galle Face and the cannon positions in batteries of four and six cannons directed at the fort. The living quarters of senior officers are marked by name. We can therefore assume that Hulftsdorp (meaning Hulft's village), the site of the present day Supreme Court and the centre of legal activity, is to the east of the fort marked as the quarters occupied by General Hulft, from whom this area gets its name. The map also shows the spot where Hulft died due to enemy fire, a month before the fort was captured. 17 ' y ^ i n- Cv. *..C« Figure 9: 'The siege of the important town of Colombo, under the command of the Noble Gentleman Gerard Hulft' ' a> 1. The quarters occupied by General Hulft and Governor van der Meyden 2. The church Agoa de Lopo, the quarters m of Major van der Ijian 3. Quarters of Lt. de Mof and the Mardijkcrs 4. Battery of 4 cannons 5. Xosso Senhora de liberament 6. 7. Lieutenants Kint, Christojfel ■ .v > 8. S. Sabastian 9. 13, 21. Lieutenants Alibier, de Wit and Schert zSLi 10. ‘Papen Huys’ (Monastery) 11. Mortars 12. Javanese quarters 14. Batteries of 2 pieces of artillery 15. S. Thomas 3 16. Batteries of 6 cannons S3 17. 18, 19, 22. Quarters of Captains Cuylenburg and Gerritz; Lieutenants Ketclaer and Gemt 20. Lt. Aerl's redoubt 23. Bridge over the lake 24. U. Poulos with his line of approach 25. Our gallery in which Mr. Hulft was shot 26. The enemies' defensive barrier 27. Outer redoubt 28. Bonier built by the Dutch to cut off Portuguese retreat from the gate of Mapane 29. .-I dry ditch From Baldaeus, 1672 .'An . L ‘■'$p ■ A ;-’C AS- CWs ifAHerie. yJ.v in X- .*Tvr '$• siSfbj/tuc* it ! $■ L rnctmmt . fSfar J b. Tift JTrufftr Jtcbr t:7V ■ 1 jj y.y'** %\frt 1 jt Ulcrtutv* JU-I st,4 Jt'H fa­ ■ ; ■ < Ji ■ tA. <fiurtier raiiX£»*w*.v* ir* X* 7V»v* • ffcrw :0e h*ii- AC. fi.’i ^»v«v i 1 sari 1 t + .JIjCrr*\'/t mm a f&ck* /- W 1jj.S. O.ynjt t 4 t,c* isjw Py^.g *?■ * '* UBMMf IjMVBrwTV ; ;■ .VS0RATU-.7: •LANKA tviCHATUVvA Chapter 2 - Dutch Period Architecture and Urban Planning Under the Dutch The first half century of Dutch rule, when Colombo and most of the other forts in Sri Lanka were built, coincided with the age of formalism in Europe, when the designs and plans of fortified towns were dominated by the rules of mathematics and geometry. These Dutch settlements were defended by a complex geometric layout of innumerable bastions, moats, gateways and drawbridges. Planned as self contained units they were equipped with such amenities as berthing facilities for sailing ships, warehouses, workshops, shipyards, barracks, armouries and powder magazines. Residential units of varying grades were provided for the higher civil and military officials. In contrast to the Portuguese, a church was invariably erected within the fortifications for the small Dutch Presbyterian community. Because Colombo was the administrative centre and its importance in the control of the cinnamon trade was considerable, the Dutch went to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the town was well defended. The Dutch reduced the area of the citadel in comparison to the Portuguese, strengthening the defensible area and dividing the city into two parts, the Kasteel (citadel or castle) and the Oude Stade (the old town or outer city) which lay outside the main fortifications. This design was in line with other fortified towns in their colonies. The Kasteel confined more or less to the area now called the 'Fort', contained the offices and residences of the European community. It was divided into 12 regular blocks with streets intersecting at right angles. It was bounded by the sea on the west and the north, with nine bastions connected by strong ramparts which ringed the fort. The Oude Stade, the current Pettah, was inhabited by the indigenous population and minor Dutch officials. It included bazaars, shops and other amenities. The street layout of this zone was also planned on a grid pattern of 12 regular blocks. This resulted in long avenues with streets intersecting at right angles. 19 TH3082 Chapter 2 - Dutch Period ■5 CD 5 § to a; o u E -m <u £• "2 ro If %£I-.; n’2&?** 8 %£■3* JllllllI lllfflL,oo ^ <u a> roo?o°’>c-D'- iE^Js §^-—-§-^-2^1 s ^ g Sj'clt'S-c^SSo-BlsIsl-afltls'olls lll!llsilll||l||f!|!lll|fl!|I I s lilts I ||sip|^sf|«l3 So EiS li 1% n;> rl Hi2--■ 3 > fi^Ar IS j£j IfcipB- T v; K V i •• i i £ ? WM -• A {■ f j [V: a1- £»VWu ;1 PI ; vff '■i ,3-1 •! V." • '»tw "l ■ .: ■ A • ■. ttSI•r P Ut i tj ;! -.1 ^J#* * ,v .. ^ ;•: il" I /Jf i » > £ V - i ■••• m, & . - % % 'V* ;r. Si IS : 7 L-i ;WM ir ^. ■SI I *1 M . ^ r V *? ir ,■•> •< ro: si lii feu • *■’*! l ■ • */ ifIn ‘ji *v ; jpf \! /!..: i i T >> !. \; wjyil ; i >v' '] mn, :Al Q\“- ■ ’ '1 ! B.;: 1 ■' -- t • 20 Chapter 2 - Dutch Period Along each street was a continuous row of single storey buildings with pitched roofs having low eaves supported by slender timber columns on verandahs which were raised to a considerable height off the street. This deep verandah was approached by a flight of steps leading to immense doorways and windows of oversized timber members placed axially on the facade. The typical street scene was therefore a long sequence of pillars diminishing in the distance in an endless colonnade. The difference between individual buildings was heightened by raising the boundary wall between each in a succession of masonry gables of different convolutions, shapes and sizes. Characteristic features of Dutch-period architecture in Sri Lanka are decorative gables, massive doorways, ornamental fanlights and timber colonnaded verandahs with an interplay of eastern and western motifs (Raheem, 1996). r SV&YA m I 233 ".r IP mi a □MO D VLd Ml o r rr Figure 11: Dutch House in Jampettah Street in the Fort. Architecture of an Island. 21 Chapter 2 - Dutch Period Early Dutch Colombo - - - <r. —• Gbm&o / v- MBBaa This very informative 1669 sketch (figure 12, Illustrations and Views of Dutch Ceylon 1602-1796) by Albrecht Herport, 'soldier and landscape painter*, shows the gallows square (near Kayman's gate) as the chief feature of the Pettah, which is clearly demarcated from the Fort. The small stream from lake to sea was later left to marshland, called the Buffalo's Plain. A causeway connects it with the bridge furthest from the sea, the other bridge being removed. The bastion between these bridges is Delft (between the present Times and Gaffoor Figure 13: The causeway leading to the Delft gate, which is the present day Main Street, looking from the Pettah to the Fort, buj,dings# the arch of thj$ with the Gaffoor building on the right, home.planet.nl 22 Chapter 2 - Dutch Period gateway has now been restored). In anticlockwise order may be seen: Leiden (the present passenger jetty), Amsterdam; the Watergate; Battenburg; and below this the Water Pas. There is a gate just beyond this which was later closed; then a section where the Portuguese stockades, their only seaward defence had not yet been replaced by walls, as far as the flagstaff on what is still Flagstaff Point. The Enkhuizen bastion is next, of which parts remain; and between this and Galle Gate is the Enkhuizen gate. Then follow Rotterdam bastion (now the Galadari Hotel) at the corner; and finally Hoorn, south of the present YMCA. Inside the fort, the Governor's House and the gardens behind it are shown prominently. To the right of this is the Portuguese Church of St. Francis (de Silva & Beumer, 1988). The Dutch Governor's Residence Figure 14: The view of the Honourable Governor's house from the rear garden, watercolour by C. Steiger c.1710 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (de Silva, & Beumer 1988). The Dutch Governor's residence was one of the Kasteel's most interesting buildings. Remodelled from a complex that originally housed a Portuguese church (the church of Misericordia) and orphanage, it retained some of the exterior architectural elements that characterized the late Indo-Portuguese style, such as the decorative balconies and the ornate gables.
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