Back مملكة كاندي Arabic Regne de Kandy Catalan Teyrnas Kandy CY Königreich Kandy German Reino de Kandy Spanish Royaume de Kandy French Kerajaan Kandy ID Regno di Kandy Italian キャンディ王国 Japanese კანდის სამეფო KA
Kingdom of Kandy මහනුවර රාජධානිය Mahanuwara Rajadhaniya | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1469–1815 | |||||||||
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 Territorial extent of the Kingdom of Kandy (1689–1796) Dutch-controlled areas | |||||||||
| Capital | Kandy | ||||||||
| Common languages | Sinhala (court language 1469–1815 and dynastic language 1469–1739) Tamil (court and dynastic language 1739–1815) Pali (for religious purposes) | ||||||||
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism | ||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
| King | |||||||||
• 1469–1511 | Senasammata Vikramabahu (first) | ||||||||
• 1798–1815 | Sri Vikrama Rajasinha (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Kandyan period | ||||||||
• Foundation of Senkadagalapura | 1469 | ||||||||
• Conquest by Sitawaka | 1581 | ||||||||
• Ascension of Vimaladharmasuriya I | 1592 | ||||||||
| 2–18 March 1815 | |||||||||
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| Historical states of Sri Lanka |
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The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century.[1]
Initially a client kingdom of the Kingdom of Kotte, Kandy gradually established itself as an independent force during the tumultuous 16th and 17th centuries, allying at various times with the Jaffna Kingdom, the Madurai Nayak dynasty of South India, Sitawaka Kingdom, and the Dutch colonizers to ensure its survival.[2]
Throughout the 16th century, numerous battles were fought with the Portuguese and later the Dutch, and from the 1590s, Kandy became the sole independent native polity on the island of Sri Lanka and through a combination of hit-and-run tactics and diplomacy kept European colonial forces at bay in the central highlands, before finally falling under British colonial rule in 1818.
The kingdom was absorbed into the British Empire as a protectorate following the Kandyan Convention of 1815, and definitively lost its autonomy following the Uva Rebellion of 1817.
- ^ Johnston, William M. (2013). Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Routledge. p. 707. ISBN 978-1136787164.
- ^ Enemy lines: childhood, warfare, and play in Batticaloa, p. 40, Margaret Trawick, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-520-24516-7