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The Fatal History of Portugese Ceylon: Transition to Dutch Rule.
by George Davison WiniusReview by: A. J. R. Russell-WoodThe
Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 52, No. 4 (Nov., 1972),
pp. 697-698Published by: Duke University PressStable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2512821 .
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BOOK REVIEWS I BACKGROUND 697Her documentation reveals a
critical use of archival and publishedmaterials in Western and
Eastern European languages, and includesa lengthy appendix of
Spanish materials. One oversight, a failure toincorporate any work
published more recently than 1966, only slightlydetracts from -the
scholarly basis of her work.
Indiana University CAROL LEONARDThe Fatal History of Portugese
Ceylon:Transition o Dutch Rule. By
GEORGEDAVISONWINIUS. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1971.
HarvardUniversity Press. Maps. Illustrations. Pp. xxi, 215. Cloth.
$10.00.The Dutch capture of Ceylon in 1656 has oft been cited as a
land-mark in the protracted agony of the Estado da India. The fall
ofOrmuz and Malacca in 1623 and 1641 respectively, the loss of
theMoluccas trade to the Dutch and the blockade of Goa pale into
in-
significance in the face of the loss of Ceylon which the
Portuguese hadoccupied since 1518. Second only to Goa in
administrative importance,and a vital defensive link, Ceylon's
eminence was founded on pearls,gemstones, elephants, spices and,
above all, cinnamon. As such it wasa worthy target for the worldly
Hollanders of the Vereenigde Oostin-dische Compagnie who, over a
period of twenty years, intrigued, tradedand fought to oust the
Portuguese.In this masterful monograph Mr. Winius shows that an
assessmentof this fall in terms of the clash of super-powers and
the victory of thestronger is an over-simplification and treats the
Sinhalese situationfrom the broad perspective of the Iberian,
European and American,as well as Asiatic, context. European
considerations, Portuguese di-plomacy with England and France, the
Hague truce and the Spanish
border threat affected Portuguese Asiatic policy. Within
Asia,the oriental mosaic of intrigue and the love-hate relationship
betweenthe Dutch and Kandy contributed to the ebb and flow of
Portuguesefortunes. The conflicts of interest between the VOC and
the StatesGeneral and within the Portuguese empire are well
documented. ITeaspirations and priorities of the Crown, the viceroy
in India and thecaptain-general in Ceylon, were often totally at
variance. Distancefrom Lisbon, bureaucratic incompetence, poor
appointments, dis-honesty and self-interest on the part of the Goan
fidalguiaand Portu-guese civil servants in Asia were as much to
blame for the fall of Ceylonas lack of manpower, weapons, and
reinforcements. The Portuguesewere also dogged by sheer bad luck.
The student of historical 'ifs'will find a fertile hunting-ground
in this narrative-if Constantino de
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698 HA1M NOVEMBERSa had not turned back in the hills of Uva, if
Francisco de Sousa Coutin-ho had not been ordered to leave his
embassy, if the Count of Sarzedashad not died suddenly. But the
conclusion that Portuguese negotiatorsin Asia were simply
out-maneuvered by the likes of van Diemen andPieter Boreel and even
the wily Raja Sinha II is inescapable. In theunravelling of this
political cat's cradle Winius has been singularlysuccessful.
In weighing the relative weights of Asiatic and American
interestsat the court in Lisbon he has been less successful. The
problems facedby Portugal in the South Atlantic, the Dutch invasion
of Brazil, theimpact on Portuguese colonial policy and European
diplomacy of therestoration of the monarchy in 1640 are described.
The author suggeststhat part of the originality of his work lies in
establishing that "theshift of Portuguese interest from India and
the Indian Ocean to Braziland the Atlantic took place during the
mid-seventeenth century, andnot only after the discovery of
Brazilian gold in the 169os," but thispoint will come as a surprise
to few Brazilianists. Winius clearlyillustrates that Portuguese
official and unofficial support for the Warof Divine Liberty
(1645-54) was given priority over urgently neededhelp for Ceylon.
But he fails to portray any soul-searching or con-flict of
interests in this policy and the reader, on the basis of the
evidencepresented, has no alternative other than the conclusion
that for oncethe councillors of Dom Jodo IV made a cold-bloodedly
realistic ap-praisal of the relative importance of Ceylon and
Brazil and that theirdecision in favour of the latter was wholly
justified at the time. Eco-nomic data on Portuguese revenue from
cinnamon and other Sinhalesecommodities are not presented and
constitute a drastic omission fora true assessment of the motives
governing this Crown policy.
Winius' major contribution has been to portray the fall of
Ceylonusing Portuguese materials from private and public archives.
This isa good story, well told, and with excellent descriptions.
Perhaps, un-wittingly, he has given us the key to the decline of
Portuguese Indiain the index: it is onomastic. Human crimes of
omission, as much aspolitical factors, resulted in the loss of
Portuguese Ceylon.Johns Hopkins University A. J. R.
RUSSELL-WOOD
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