Sri Lanka portal. The Kingdom of Kotte Sinhala : කෝට්ටේ රාජධානියromanized: Kottay RajadhaniyaTamil : கோட்டை அரசுnamed after its capital, Kottewas a Sinhalese kingdom that flourished in Sri Lanka during the 15th century. Kotte, under the rule of Ming -backed Parakramabahu VI[a] conquered the Jaffna kingdom and the Vanni principalitiesand brought the country under one flag.
It led to a punitive invasion against the Vijayanagar dynasty and captured a portwhich was converted to a trade route. Dom João Dharmapala handed it over to the Portuguese, thus leading to the formation of Portuguese Ceylon.
The remainder was annexed into Sitwaka and Kandy. The term Kotte is said to have derived from the Sinhalese word kotta කෝට්ට and Tamil word kōttei which mean fortress. They were believed to be from the city of Vanchiidentified with Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu.
It was well protected by the large swamp that surrounded the area. Parakramabahu VI first became the king of Raigama inthen, inhe made Kotte his capital. The King upgraded the existing citadel and built a new royal palace. First, he captured the Vanni and made its leaders tecken skogen kotte to him.
Prince Sapumal was the commander of the Kotte army at the time. Tamil served as one of the court languages of the Kotte Kingdom at this time. At its height, the Kingdom oversaw one of the greatest eras of Sinhalese literature. Byhowever, 10 years after the death of Parakramabahu Vardag, regional kingdoms became more powerful.
Most notably a new Kingdom was founded in the central hill-country of the island by Senasammata Vikramabahu who successfully led a rebellion against the Kotte Kingdom in Parakramabahu IX of Kotte moved the capital to Kelaniya in and it stayed there until Once they learnt that they had arrived in Sri Lanka, they sailed to Colombo.
This was done in order to create the impression that the kingdom was too far inland to make invasion from the harbour feasible. This plan was, however, spoilt by the fact that the Portuguese who remained with the ship fired the ship's cannon repeatedly, which sound was heard by the Portuguese party being taken to Kotte.
However, during this meeting, the Portuguese managed to secure a trade agreement with the Kotte king. Kotte Kingdom's downfall began with an event in that became known as the " Wijayaba Kollaya ". He also allowed his daughter's son, Prince Dharmapala, to be baptized as a Catholic by the Portuguese.
After Buvenekabahu had named Dharmapala as his heir, he was shot — supposedly by accident — by a Portuguese soldier. In[15] the capital of Kotte was abandoned by Dharmapala of Kotte due to frequent attacks from the Kingdom of Sitawaka led by Mayadunne and his son Rajasinghe I; he was taken into Colombo under Portuguese protection.
The military of the Kotte kingdom was closely associated with both its rise and demise.