Dutch Canals in Sri Lanka: History, Present Status and Conservation

Dutch Canals in Sri Lanka: History, Present Status and Conservation

Project start
Project end
Sites
Colombo
Groningen
Negombo
Organisations
Partner country(ies)
Sri Lanka
long description

Within the framework of the World Canal Conference 2011, the Sri Lankan architect and heritage conservation consultant Nilan Cooray gave a lecture on the Dutch Canals in Sri Lanka. The aim of this reading was to fill the gap in knowledge on Sri Lankan-Dutch relations in canal building.

Although it was the Colonial Portuguese settlers who initiated the construction of inland waterways (1505 – 1656), it was the Dutch who established a system of canals in Sri Lanka during three hundred years after 1500’s, when the majority of nationals in Europe overflowed their boundaries and moved towards the east and west direction of the globe. Taking full advantage of the natural water bodies such as rivers, streams, inland lakes and lagoons within Sri Lanka’s flat coastal landscapes, the Dutch canalised the Maritime Provinces under their territories during the period 1656 – 1796, to serve following purposes that are of military, commercial, administrative and utilitarian nature.

The canal system in Colombo is now under the care and responsibility of the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation. Under the framework of the Dutch-Sri Lanka Mutual Heritage Program, the Government of the Netherlands has made a financial contribution to rehabilitate the Vystwyke Canal at the Crow Island in the suburbs of Colombo to improve the environmental condition of its neighbourhood. The Sri Lankan Government obtained financial assistance from the Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) to initiate a project to re-habilitate a part of the Negombo-Puttalam Dutch Canal to develop tourist facilities including recreational boating. These are all positive signs in terms of preserving this unique heritage for future generations.