The world's largest natural harbour is Trincomalee. The Portuguese first built a fort here in 1624 and later the Dutch took over this sea port in 1639. During the 18th century the fort was extended gradually, but Trincomalee never played an important part in the country's affairs, despite its excellent harbour. Most of the Dutch economic activity and military presence was in Galle and Colombo, which had good harbours too. The town of Trincomalee always remained small. Still it had a perfect all-season secure harbour. In the age of sailing this was extremely important. It was the reason the British wanted it. Nelson called it 'the finest harbour in the world'. All along the Coromandel the British had nothing but so-called 'open roads', where the ships had to stand out into the open seas in the monsoons. Many parts of the coast could only be approached during a few months of the year.

At the end of the 18th century Trincomalee again experienced a quick and interesting change of occupiers. Early in January 1782 the fort was captured by the British, and an ambassador was sent to Kandy. To their chagrin, the King of Kandy whith whom they had been surreptitiously negotiating for some time, Sri Kirti, had died two months previously from wounds sustained when falling off his horse. His successor, Rajadhirajasinha refused to talk to the ambassador. During the same year the French repeatedly attacked the British at Trincomalee, and in August they managed to capture the fort. At the Peace of Paris in 1784 the French returned Trincomalee to the VOC again.

Twelve years later, in 1795, the British arrived in Ceylon again for their final takeover. The first fort they chose to capture was Trincomalee. But during the 19th century, due to developments in sailing and naval warfare, the harbour lost its value, although during the Second World War it was the home base for the combined East Asian fleets of the allied powers. Very little development took place at the eastcoast, and it still is the poorest part of the country. The chronic ethnic fighting in the area is not doing any good to that state of affairs either.

Trincomalee Habour Related references