page_title: Kingdom of Sitawaka
section_title: Conquest of Kotte (1551–1581)
hierarchical_section_title: Kingdom of Sitawaka / History / Conquest of Kotte (1551–1581)
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka Français&#160;: Église Saint-Sébastien à Negombo, Sri Lanka
context_page_description: The Kingdom of Sitawaka was a kingdom located in south-central Sri Lanka. It emerged from the division of the Kingdom of Kotte following the Spoiling of Vijayabahu in 1521. Over the course of the next seventy years it came to dominate much of the island. Sitawaka also offered fierce resistance to the Portuguese, who had arrived on the island in 1505. Despite its military successes, Sitawaka remained unstable, having to contend with repeated uprisings in its restive Kandyan territories, as well as a wide-ranging and often devastating conflict with the Portuguese. Sitawaka disintegrated soon after the death of its last king Rajasimha I in 1593.
context_section_description: Portuguese involvement in the internal politics of Kotte increased with the arrival in 1550 of viceroy Afonso de Noronha and a contingent of some 500 Portuguese soldiers. The Portuguese sacked Sitawaka later that year, but failed to retain the city. Accounts indicate that Mayadunne had adopted a policy of simply evacuating his capital and retreating into the surrounding terrain when the Portuguese approached—on occasion leaving the palace lights burning and spreading white cloth on the floor as a welcome for the invaders. Once the invaders had left the capital, the king's forces would then harass them along the route down to the Kelani river.
  
  In 1551 Bhuvanekabahu was assassinated and succeeded by Dharmapala, who relied heavily on his European allies to maintain his hold over the kingdom. A new Portuguese fortress was constructed in Colombo in 1554, and by 1556 the 70,000 inhabitants in the vicinity of Colombo Fort had converted to Catholicism.
  King Dharmapala himself converted to Catholicism in 1557 and adopted the name Dom João Pereira Bandara. Large numbers of Buddhist clergy and commoners fled the kingdom fearing persecution amidst rumours of forced conversions. Perhaps most significantly, the Tooth Relic—the most sacred object in the land and a traditional symbol of royal authority and inheritance—was smuggled out of Kotte and taken to Delgamu Viharaya in Ratnapura. Portuguese claims to have burnt the relic further inflamed the resentment of the populace. A Sitawakan invasion that year was repulsed by Captain-General Dom Afonso Pereira de Lacerda.
  Kotte counter-attacked in 1562, with Lacerda leading a substantial force from Colombo along the banks of the river Kelani. At Mulleriyawa they encountered a force led by Tikiri Banda, Mayadunne's son; in the subsequent Mulleriyawa Satana a significant number of Portuguese and several thousand Lascarins were killed, and the invading force routed. The victory was a huge psychological boost for the Sitawakans, reflected in Tikiri Banda's acquisition of the moniker Rajasinha—"king of the lions".
  Pressing their advantage, Mayadunne and Tikiri Bandara launched a two-pronged attack on Kotte in 1564, laying siege to both Kotte and Colombo. Portuguese forces were forced to retreat from Kotte with Dharmapala, leaving Sitawaka in control of much of the kingdom. Major Sitawakan garrisons were established at Wattala, Nagalagama and Mapane. However a thin coastal strip, running from Negombo to Galle and including the fort in Colombo, was kept provisioned from the sea by Portuguese ships and remained in Portuguese hands until after the collapse of Sitawaka a generation later. Strategically, this enabled them to harass and wage attritionary campaigns against the kingdom, the most notable being the invasion of 1574 which saw Negombo, Kalutara and Beruwala plundered, Sitawakan garrisons at Nagalagama and Mapane expelled, and the districts of Weligama and Chilaw ravaged. Portuguese influence culminated in Dharmapala's 1580 declaration that in the event of his death, the lands of Kotte would pass to Manuel I.
caption: A Catholic church in Negombo. The spread of Christianity was a major factor in Sri Lankan conflicts of the 16th and 17th centuries
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