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The first Portuguese visiting Ceylon was Dom Lourenço de Almeida in 1505 or 1506. Accidentally, after a storm, adverse winds drove him to the island's coast near Galle. In the last months of the years 1505 or 1506 Dom Lourenço's fleet anchored off Colombo. A mem ....

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.... fleet. Here the Portuguese began to build a small fort named "Nossa Senhora das Virtudes" or "Santa Barbara". This first fort was a triangular in shape surmounted by a central tower. Sinhalese soon besieged the fort, and around 1524 the Portuguese dismantle it. The Portuguese kept an Agent in the Island under the protection of the Sinhalese King at Kotte.Giving up of Colombo was a mistake. The colony of Muslims merchants immediately attempted to win back their supremacy in the Kingdon of Kotte and to re-conquer the cinnamon trade. However, they were to be defeated by the few Portuguese still presents in the Island. The Mappillas (Malabar Muslims) t ....