THE HISTORY OF NEGOMBO

By AN OCTOGENERIAN

Negombo with its alluring wide sandy beaches and the cool breeze which wafts over the placid waters of the lagoon is one of the many reasons for this coastal city to be acclaimed as being a popular sea-side holiday resort. Its centuries old history is both interesting and in a sense surprising and should hopefully be worth your reading on a Sunday morning such as this.

There was a time in the distant past, when the kings of Jaffna ruled over Negombo together with some other cities along the western coast of the island. At the time of the Portuguese arrival in our island in 1505, which according to eminent historians was an event that occurred more by chance than by choice, since their fleet had been blown by strong winds into the Kolontota harbor which was the ancient name which referred to the Colombo harbor.

It was during this period that the ruler of Jaffna was King Pararajasekeram ( 1478 – 1519 ) From the time of their arrival the Portuguese, realizing the potential of this comparatively small island had the ambition of capturing the entire island, commencing with the coastal towns. Therefore they lost no time in defeating the forces of King Pararajasekeram and built a small and rather insignificant fort.

On May 2, 1602, the Dutch arrived in our island and from then onward the capturing and rebuilding of the original Portuguese fort began. In 1640 the Dutch captured this fort. In December 1643 the Portuguese recaptured it. Three years later in 1644 the Dutch recaptured it. Finally in February 1796 the British captured it and in the late 1800’s they demolished this fort and built a prison which is still in existence administered by the Department of Prisons.

The history of Negombo does not end there. According to reliable sources the written and spoken language of the people of Negombo was Tamil. Furthermore the name Negombo had been derived from the Portuguese corruption of the Tamil name ‘Neerkolombu. Likewise the Sinhala name Meegamuwa, was derived from the Tamil term ‘Meegaman Pattinam.’ ‘Pattinam’ meant Naval Captain. It being of special significance to the majority of the of the people of Negombo whose clan was traditionally connected to being either professional sailors or fishermen.

Negombo has also been featured in the ancient Sinhala chronicle ‘Rajavaliya’ which describes the continuous history of Sinhala kings from the legendary King Vijaya to King Vimaladharmasuriya II. According to this chronical the word ‘Mee’ which refers to bees’ honey, and forms the first part of the Sinhala name for Negombo, namely ‘Meegamuwa,’ is the reason for Negombo having been referred to as the ‘village of the honey comb’. The story of the honey comb which was no doubt legendary was that the army of King Kavantissa had found bees’ honey in a canoe by the Negombo sea shore and offered it to Viharamahadevi who had become pregnant by Prince Dutugemunu !!

Additionally there are five reasons for which Negombo merits an ‘honorable mention.’ Firstly the cultivation and export of spices specially cinnamon for which Negombo had gained a reputation as being a source of the best spices in this part of the world. The Portuguese seized this opportunity and immediately undertook its production, management and its export using the Negombo harbor for the purpose.

The Hamilton canal also referred to as the Dutch canal which connects Colombo to Puttalam via Negombo was not built by the Portuguese or the Dutch. It was first constructed by the king of the kingdom of Kotte – Veera Parakramabahu VIII whose people used it to transport arecanuts, cloves, cardamom, pepper and cinnamon from Kotte to Negombo which even at that time served as one of the main sea-ports in the island.

In 1802 the British reconstructed the canal to drain salt water out of the Muthurajawela wetlands. The name ‘Hamilton’ was given in honor of Gavin Hamilton who was the Government Agent for Revenue and Commerce and supervised its construction. Secondly there was the conversion of the people of Negombo to Roman Catholicism. In order to be able to identify the newly converted they were given Portuguese names, such as ‘Fernando, Pieris, Perera and Mendis. However It should be noted that today every person with such a surame is not a Roman Catholic. In fact most of them are Buddhists, who continue to use the surames of their ancestors.

The preponderance of Roman Catholics in the are and its numerous churches justifies the claim that Negombo has the most number of Roman Catholic churches in the island. It is for these reasons that Negombo is referred to the ‘Little Rome.