The Portuguese, following the fall of the Kingdom of Kotte in 1593, had been able to establish complete control over the entire coastal area, with Colombo as their capital.

The Dutch in 1638 had signed a treaty with King Rajasinha II of Kandy which had assured the king assistance in his war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the island's major trade goods.

The Portuguese had resisted the Dutch and the Kandyans, but have been gradually defeated in their strongholds beginning in 1639.

The Dutch capture Colombo in 1656 after an epic siege, at the end of which a mere ninetey-three Portuguese survivors are given safe conduct out of the fort.

Although the Dutch initially restore the captured area back to the Sinhalese Kings, they later refuse to turn them over and gain control over the island's richest cinnamon lands, including Colombo, which now serves as the capital of the Dutch maritime provinces under the control of the Dutch East India Company.