Colombo

Sister cities

• Leeds
• Ulaanbaatar
• Malé
• Shanghai
• Biratnagar
• Saint Petersburg

History

Traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited the island in the 14th century, referred to it as Kalanpu. Arabs, whose primary interests were trade, began to settle in Colombo around the eighth century AD mostly because the port helped their business by the way of controlling much of the trade between the Sinhalese kingdoms and the outside world. It was popularly believed that their descendants comprised the local Sri Lankan Moor community, but their genetics are predominantly South Indian. Portuguese explorers led by Dom Lourenço de Almeida first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505. During their initial visit they made a treaty with the King of Kotte, Parakramabahu VIII (1484–1518), which enabled them to trade in the island's crop of cinnamon, which lay along with the coastal areas of the island, including in Colombo. As part of the treaty, the Portuguese were given full authority over the coastline in exchange for the promise of guarding the coast against invaders. They were allowed to establish a trading post in Colombo. This part of Colombo is still known as Fort and houses the presidential palace and the majority of Colombo's five star hotels. The area immediately outside Fort is known as Pettah (, piṭa koṭuva, "outer fort") and is a commercial hub. In 1638 the Dutch signed a treaty with King Rajasinha II of Kandy which assured the king assistance in his war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the island's major trade goods. The Portuguese resisted the Dutch and the Kandyans but were gradually defeated in their strongholds beginning in 1639. Although the British captured Colombo in 1796, it remained a British military outpost until the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to them in 1815 and they made Colombo the capital of their newly created crown colony of British…

Geography

The geography of Colombo consists of both land and water. The city has many canals and, in the heart of the city, the Beira Lake. The lake is one of the most distinctive landmarks of Colombo and was used for centuries by colonists to defend the city. It remains a tourist attraction, hosting regattas, and theatrical events on its shores. The northern and north-eastern border of the city of Colombo is formed by the Kelani River, which meets the sea in a part of the city known as the Modera (mōdara in Sinhala) which means river delta. Colombo features a tropical rainforest climate (Af). Colombo's climate is hot throughout the year. From March to April the average high temperature is around . The only major change in the Colombo weather occurs during the monsoon seasons from April to June and September to November, when heavy rains occur. Colombo sees little relative diurnal range of temperature, although this is more marked in the drier winter months, where minimum temperatures average . Rainfall in the city averages around a year.