I have been reading through the itinerary Professor Pham provided us and noticed that we will be doing many different things in Sri Lanka. Since this is our cultural tour destination of the trip, I thought it would be interesting to read up on the places that we will be visiting. This time, I decided to do some research on the Colonial Era Remains in Colombo.
Colombo was the capital of Portuguese Ceylon. The people there built several churches, houses, convents, forts, a hospital, etc. The first fort, Santa Barbara, was built in 1518. It was abandoned in 1524 and a new fort was built in 1554, which developed the city of Colombo. The town was destroyed by the Dutch during the siege in 1655, but later on rebuilt the city. In 1870, the British invaded Colombo and the Dutch fort was demolished.