Cite
MLA
“Siege of Colombo.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-colombo-1656/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Siege of Colombo. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-colombo-1656/
Colombo surrendered to the Dutch in May 1656; the Dutch kept it and shut out their Kandyan ally.
01Seven months
Colombo was the strongest Portuguese place in Lanka, walled on the land side and open to the sea. In October 1655 a Dutch army under Gerard Hulft closed in, with Rajasinha II’s Kandyan troops holding the country outside. The first general assault in November failed with heavy losses. Hulft was killed in April 1656 while inspecting the siege lines. Inside, food ran out, and the Dutchman Baldaeus, a chaplain with the army, describes starvation in the town.
02Surrender and betrayal
On 12 May 1656 the Portuguese surrendered on terms. Rajasinha expected Colombo to be handed to him, as the Dutch had promised. Instead the Dutch shut the gates against the Kandyans and kept the city. The king, furious, laid waste the country round Colombo so the Dutch would gain nothing from it. The alliance became a cold war that lasted for the rest of his reign, and Colombo became the capital of Dutch Ceylon.
The fall of Colombo ended Portuguese power in western Lanka; the Dutch took Jaffna, the last Portuguese stronghold, two years later.