The Portuguese built a fort at Trincomalee in 1624, at the base of a high rock, which is called Swami Rock today. On the top of this rock was a famous temple, the 'Pagoda of a thousand pillars', which the Portuguese destroyed. The stones were used to build the fort. In 1639 the Dutch attacked it wit    Read more...

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h a fleet of 12 ships under Admiral Westerwold, and captured it. The Portuguese fort was rebuilt but later abandoned. Only in 1665 a new fort was built in its place, when it became clear the British and the French were interested in this east coast harbour. In 1672, the year when the Dutch Republic was attacked by France, Brittain, and two German states, the French captured Trincomalee. They sent an embassy to Raja Singha in Kandy, who allowed them to occupy Trincomalee and Batticaloa. Van Goens soon sent a fleet however, which trapped the French in their fort with no food or water. Four months later they were forced to leave.

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.

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