British Ceylon
British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies (1802–1833) Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies (1833–1931) Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies (1931–1948) | |||||||||||||
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1796–1948 | |||||||||||||
Anthem: God Save the King (1796–1837; 1901–1948) God Save the Queen (1837–1901) | |||||||||||||
Status | |||||||||||||
Capital | Colombo | ||||||||||||
Common languages | |||||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||||||
• 1815–1820 | George III (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1820–1830 | George IV | ||||||||||||
• 1830–1837 | William IV | ||||||||||||
• 1837–1901 | Victoria | ||||||||||||
• 1901–1910 | Edward VII | ||||||||||||
• 1910–1936 | George V | ||||||||||||
• 1936 | Edward VIII | ||||||||||||
• 1936–1948 | George VI (last) | ||||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||||
• 1798–1805 | Frederick North (first) | ||||||||||||
• 1944–1948 | Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore (last) | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||||||
• 1947–1948 | Don Stephen Senanayake | ||||||||||||
Legislature |
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Historical era | British Ceylon period | ||||||||||||
5 March 1796 | |||||||||||||
• Establishment of dual administration | 12 October 1798 | ||||||||||||
25 March 1802 | |||||||||||||
2 March 1815 | |||||||||||||
4 February 1948 | |||||||||||||
Area | |||||||||||||
1946[1] | 65,993 km2 (25,480 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
Population | |||||||||||||
• 1827[2] | 889,584[c] | ||||||||||||
• 1901[2] | 3,565,954 | ||||||||||||
• 1946[2] | 6,657,339 | ||||||||||||
Currency |
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Today part of | Sri Lanka |
Historical states of Sri Lanka | |
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1232–1620 | |
1521–1594 |
British Ceylon (
History
Background
Before the beginning of the Dutch governance, the island of Ceylon was divided between the Portuguese Empire and the Kingdom of Kandy, who were in the midst of a war for control of the island as a whole. The island attracted the attention of the newly formed Dutch Republic when they were invited by the Sinhalese King to fight the Portuguese. Dutch rule over much of the island was soon imposed.
In the late 18th century the Dutch, weakened by their wars against Great Britain, were conquered by Napoleonic France, and their leaders became refugees in London. No longer able to govern their part of the island effectively, the Dutch transferred the rule of it to the British, although this was against the wishes of the Dutch residing there. The capture of the island immediately yielded £300,000 of money in goods, as well as the acquisition of the cinnamon plantations, making this a valuable venture.[6]
Kandyan Wars
As soon as Great Britain gained the European-controlled parts of Ceylon from the Dutch, they wanted to expand their new sphere of influence by making the native Kingdom of Kandy a protectorate, an offer initially refused by the King of Kandy. Although the previous Dutch administration had not been powerful enough to threaten the reign of the Kandyan Kings, the British were much more powerful. The Kandyan refusal to accept a protectorate led eventually to war, which ended with the capitulation of the Kandyans.
Kandyan Convention
The rule of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinghe was not favoured by his chieftains. The king, who was of South Indian ancestry, faced powerful chieftains and sought cruel measures to repress their popularity with the people. A successful coup was organised by the Sinhala chiefs in which they accepted the British Crown as their new sovereign. This ended the line of the kingdom of Kandy and King Rajasinghe was taken as a prisoner, ending his hope that the British would allow him to retain power. The Kandyan treaty which was signed in 1815 was called the Kandyan Convention and stated the terms under which the Kandyans would live as a British protectorate. The Buddhist religion was to be given protection by the Crown, and Christianity would not be imposed on the population, as had happened during Portuguese and Dutch rule. The Kandyan Convention is an important legal document because it specifies the conditions which the British promised for the Kandyan territory.
The Uva Rebellion
It took the ruling families of Kandy less than two years to realise that the authority of the British government was a fundamentally different one to that of the (deposed) Nayakkar dynasty. Soon the Kandyans rebelled against the British and waged a guerrilla war. Discontent with British activities soon boiled over into open rebellion, commencing in the duchy of Uva in 1817, so-called the
The rebellion, which soon developed into a
Development
Sivasundaram argues, reinforcing the analysis first made by famed local historian, G.C. Mendis in his book, Ceylon Under the British, that the British used geographical knowledge to defeat the Kandyan holdouts in the mountainous and jungle areas in the centre of Ceylon. They used local informants and British surveyors to map the island, and then built a network of roads to open the central region. This made possible export production of plantation agriculture, as well as tighter military control.[14]
With its trading ports of Trincomalee and Colombo, the colony was one of the very few sources of cinnamon in the world. The spice was extremely valuable, and the British East India Company began to cultivate it in 1767, but Ceylon remained the main producer until the end of the 18th century[15]
The laying of the railway was carried out during the Governorship of Sir Henry Ward. Other major works of the British include road-building projects and the establishment of coffee and tea plantations, hospitals, and maternity homes.
Demographics
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1871 | 2,400,380 | — |
1881 | 2,759,700 | +15.0% |
1891 | 3,007,800 | +9.0% |
1901 | 3,566,000 | +18.6% |
1911 | 4,106,400 | +15.2% |
1921 | 4,498,600 | +9.6% |
1931 | 5,306,000 | +17.9% |
1946 | 6,657,300 | +25.5% |
Source: Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka |
The multiracial population of Ceylon was numerous enough to support the European colonists; the Portuguese and the Dutch offspring of the past 440 odd years of colonial history was large enough to run a stable government. Unlike the previous rulers, the British embarked on a plantation programme which initially brought coffee plantations to the island. These were later wiped out by
The British also brought Tamils from
Censuses in Ceylon began in 1871 and continued every ten years. The 1881 census shows a total population of 2.8 million, consisting of 1.8 million Sinhalese; 687,000 Ceylon and Indian Tamils; 185,000 Moors; as well as 4,800 Europeans; 17,900 Burghers and Eurasians; 8,900 Malays; 2,200 Veddhas; and 7,500 other.[17]
The Censuses of 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 had shown
Government and military
British Governors of Ceylon
Between 1796 and 1948, Ceylon was a British Crown colony. Although the British monarch was the head of state, in practice his or her functions were exercised in the colony by the colonial Governor, who acted on instructions from the British government in London.
On the approach to self-government and independence, the Donoughmore Commission recommended the Donoughmore Constitution of 1931–1947, one of a series of attempts to create a workable solution that would allow for inter-communal differences. This was replaced by the Soulbury Commission proposals that led to the Dominion of Ceylon of 1948–1972, after which the Free, Sovereign and the Independent Republic of Sri Lanka was established.
Armed forces
The
Trincomalee Harbour was an important strategic base for the British Royal Navy until 1948, primarily to control the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean.
See also
Notes
References
- ^ "The British Empire in 1924". The British Empire. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
- ^ a b c The Population of Sri Lanka (PDF). Population Growth: C.I.C.R.E.D. Series. 1974. pp. 3–4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
- ^ "Sri Lanka". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ "Sri Lanka". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ "Sri Lanka". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
- ^ Christie, Nikki (2016). Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914. Pearson. p. 53.
- ^ Lessons on British 'decency' Archived 17 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine, The Nation
- ^ Keppetipola and the Uva The Great Liberation War Virtual Library Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
- ^ "Uva Wellassa The Great Liberation War: 1817–1818". Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ "Wellassa riots in 1818". Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
- ^ "Torture tree of the British Army". Retrieved 23 October 2014.
- ^ Müller, J. B. (6 November 2010). "Anglophiles, Eurocentric arrogance and Reality". The Island.
- ^ Keerthisinghe, Lakshman I. (2013). "The British duplicity in protecting human rights in Sri Lanka". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- ^ Sujit Sivasundaram, "Tales of the Land: British Geography and Kandyan Resistance in Sri Lanka, c. 1803–1850", Modern Asian Studies (2007) 41#5 pp. 925–965.
- ^ Christie, Nikki (2016). Britain: losing and gaining an empire, 1763–1914. Pearson.
- ^ "THE POPULATION I OF SRI LANKA" (PDF). CI.CR.É.D. Series. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ "THE POPULATION I OF SRI LANKA" (PDF). CI.CR.É.D. Series. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ SURYANARAYAN, V. "In search of a new identity". Frontline. Archived from the original on 29 May 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ^ van Langenberg, Cyril. "The Volunteer Force". The Ceylon Army Journal Volume. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
Sources
- Arsecularatne, S. N, Sinhalese immigrants in Malaysia & Singapore, 1860–1990: History through recollections, Colombo, KVG de Silva & Sons, 1991
- Mills, Lennox A. (1933). Ceylon Under British Rule, 1795–1932. Oxford U.P. ISBN 9780714620190.
- Malalgoda, Kitsiri (1976). Buddhism in Sinhalese Society, 1750–1900: A Study of Religious Revival and Change. U. of California Press. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
- Peebles, Patrick (2006). The History of Sri Lanka. Greenwood. ISBN 9780313332050.
- Peebles, Patrick (2001). The Plantation Tamils of Ceylon. Continuum International. ISBN 9780718501549.
- Schrikker. Alicia (2007). Dutch and British Colonial Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1780–1815: Expansion and Reform. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004156029.
- Spencer, Jonathan (1990). Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780203407417.
- Silva, K.M. de. History of Sri Lanka (1982). pp. 239–488 complete text online free
- .
- S2CID 128631455.
- Wenzlhuemer, Roland (2008). From Coffee to Tea Cultivation in Ceylon, 1880–1900: An Economic and Social History. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004163614.
- Wenzlhuemer, Roland. "Indian Labour Immigration and British Labour Policy in Nineteenth‐Century Ceylon," Modern Asian Studies (2007) 41:575–602
- Wickramasinghe, Nira (2006). Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History of Contested Indentities. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824830168.