An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2020) |
Author | Robert Knox |
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Country | England |
Language | English |
Subject | History, ethnography |
Genre | Non-fiction |
Publisher | Richard Chiswell |
Publication date | 1681 |
Media type |
History of Kandy |
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Kingdom of Kandy (1469–1815) |
|
Colonial Kandy (1815–1948) |
Kandy (1948–present) |
See also |
Sri Lanka portal |
An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon together With somewhat Concerning Severall Remarkable passages of my life that hath hapned since my Deliverance out of Captivity is a book written by the English trader and sailor Robert Knox in 1681. It describes his experiences some years earlier in the Kingdom of Kandy, on the island today known as Sri Lanka. It provides one of the most important contemporary accounts of 17th century Sri Lankan life.
History
Knox spent 19 years in Sri Lanka after being taken prisoner by the Kingdom of Kandy during the reign of
The book was written during the voyage to England. It came to the attention of Knox's employers, the directors of the
Contents
The Relation has a wider literary importance in influencing the development of the English novel. Knox uses direct and idiomatic language to provide detailed descriptions of the factual reality that he saw during his time on Ceylon. He paints a portrait of himself as a practical, self-sufficient and robust individual, very much like Defoe's shipwrecked mariner. The book is of fundamental importance as a source for the economic history and anthropology of Ceylon during this period due to the objectivity and detail of the text, in which Knox provides closely observed descriptions of Sinhalese topography, economic and social life, cultural characteristics and conditions in the kingdom of Kandy.[2] It is divided into four parts; the first three describe the kingdom of Kandy, and the final part details Knox's escape from captivity.[1]
The preface provides maps and descriptions of Tamil royal and rural life in the country
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"Their manner of Fishing". Engravings from the 1681 (English) and 1692 (Dutch) editions of An Historical Relation
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Depiction of an execution by elephant
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 0-226-46767-8
- ^ a b Watson, I.B. 'Knox, Robert (1641–1720)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004
- ISBN 9004089799