SRI LANKA - COLONIAL ERA

Sri Lanka had always been an important port and trading post in
the ancient world,and was increasingly frequented by merchant 
ships from the Middle East, Persia,Burma ,Thailand, Malaysia
,Indonesia and other parts of SoutheastAsia. The islands were 
known to the first European explorers of South Asia and settled 
by many groups of Arab and Malay merchants.

A Portuguese colonial mission arrived on the island in1505 headed  

by Lourenço de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida. At that 

point the island consisted of three kingdoms, namely Kandy in the 

central hills,Kotte at the Western coast, and Yarlpanam 

(Anglicised Jaffna) in the north. The Dutch arrived in the 17th century. 

Although much of the coastal regions of the island came under  the 

domain of European powers, the interior, hilly region of the island 

remained independent, with its capital in Kandy.

The British East India Company took over the coastal regions

island controlled by the Dutch in 1796, in 1802 these provinces 

were declared a crown colony under direct rule of the British 

government, The annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 

by the Kandyan convention, unified the island under British rule.

Source : Wikipedia the free encyclopedia