Trincomalee - History

History

Trincomalee which is a natural deep-water harbour that has attracted seafarers like Marco Polo, Ptolemy and Sea Traders from China and East Asia since ancient times. Trinco, as it is commonly called, has been a sea port since the days of the ancient Sri Lankan Kings. The earliest known reference to the port of Gokanna is found in the Mahavamsa stating that in 5th century BC, when King Vijaya who having failed to convince his brother to come to Sri Lanka as his successor, got down his youngest son Panduvasdeva, who landed at Gokanna and was subsequently enthroned at Upatissagama.

Trincomalee was used by Chola king Ilankesvarar Tevar as his eastern port in the 11th century and prospered under the Vannimai chieftaincies of the Jaffna kingdom. It was often visited by Kings Singai Pararasasegaram and his successor King Cankili I. King Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan (1380-1410 CE) had the traditional history of the Koneswaram temple compiled as a chronicle in verse, entitled Dakshina Kailasa Puranam, known today as the Sthala Puranam of Koneshwaram Temple.

King Parakramabahu I used Gokanna (Trincomalee) as his eastern port, to launch a successful invasion of Burma in the 12th Century.

By the late 16th century, Jaffna had given minimal logistical access to its Trincomalee and Batticaloa seaports to Kandy to secure military advantages against its enemies; this was utilized by their influential European overlords to consolidate power in the region. In 1612, D. Hieronymo de Azevedo, after great difficulties due to torrential rains arrived at Trincomalee with a Portuguese contingent from Kandy. Here de Azevedo "was keen on building a fort" to the scope he called in aid from King Ethirimana Cinkam of Jaffna, but not seeing him arrive he abandoned the enterprise and he marched towards Jaffna.

The Danish arrived in Trincomalee to the end of 1619 with a first ship, called "Øresund" under the command of Roelant Crape, this small expedition, was the vanguard of another Danish fleet, this one composed by four vessels and three hundred soldiers, commanded by Ove Giedde, that reached the island in May 1620. They wanted to try their fortune in the Asian seas; the Danish expedition occupied Koneswaram temple and it was here that the Danes began the works for the fortification of the peninsula. In the year 1619, upon the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom, all the territory of the kingdom of Jaffna, comprised Trincomalee and Batticaloa, was assigned to the spiritual cures of the Franciscans. This decision was taken by the bishop of Cochin, f Dom Sebastião de S. Pedro. Later, an other decree of the same bishop of Cochin dated 11 November 1622, tracing that one indicated in 1602, entrusted newly to the Jesuits the spiritual cure in the districts of Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, giving to them possibility to build churches, to train the sacraments and to convert the souls. The Jesuits followed the Portuguese soldiers to Trincomalee and Batticaloa when they occupied the two localities.

Trincomalee had a Portuguese force during the reign of Kandyan King Rajasinghe II. Rajasinghe finally ended with an alliance with Dutch and the Dutch invaded Kottyar Bay Fort as their first attack. The fall of the Kottyar Bay Fort was the first nail in the Portuguese coffin. An English sea captain and historical chronicle writer named Robert Knox came ashore by chance near Trincomalee and surrendered to the Dissawa (official) of the King of Kandy in 1659. It joined the Coylot Vanni Country by the 18th century. Hence, it was an important trade city between Sri Lanka and the outside world, and one of the British Empire's most important ports in Asia during the second world war.

Trincomalee was occupied by the Dutch, and subsequently by French alternately, until the capture of the fort there by the British in 1795. Trincomalee was the first land to be captured by the British who fought and defeated the Dutch, who did not want to surrender Ceylon as directed by the Prince of Orange, who took refuge in London after being defeated by the French republicans under Napoleon. As such Trincomalee has served as an entrance to a western invader from Calcutta.