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The Siege of the Portuguese fort ''Santa Cruz de Gale'' at Galle in 1640, took place during the Dutch–Portuguese and Sinhalese–Portuguese Wars. The Galle fort commanded 282 villages, which contained most fertile cinnamon lands in southern Sri Lanka〔S.G. Perera p 116.〕 It was also an important strategic coastal defense of Portuguese Ceylon.〔Bacarro p 39.〕 The Dutch, who were in an alliance with the Kingdom of Kandy, landed an expeditionary force under Commodore Willem Jacobszoon Coster of Akersloot, at the Bay of Galle, on 8 March 1640. After bombarding the fort for four consecutive days, Dutch troops stormed the fort and secured a victory on 13 March 1640. The Portuguese garrison, led by Captain Lourenço Ferreira de Brito, mounted a stiff resistance and unexpectedly high casualty rates among Dutch troops gave rise to the proverb “Gold in Malacca, lead in Galle”.〔 With this victory the Dutch gained access to a large port which they later used as a convenient naval base to attack Goa and other South Indian Portuguese defenses. They also gained access to the Sri Lankan cinnamon trade and gained a permanent foothold on the island.〔 ==Background== (詳細はkingdom of Kotte.〔S.G. Perera p 11.〕 They erected a fortress in Colombo and garrisoned it.〔S.G. Perera p 13.〕 In 1521, during events which became known as the “Spoiling of Vijayabahu”, Kotte King Vijayabahu VII’s three sons mutinied and killed their father.〔S.G. Perera p 16.〕 They divided the kingdom among themselves giving rise to three minor kingdoms: Kotte, Sitawaka and Principality of Raigama.〔Rajavaliya p 77.〕〔S.G. Perera p 17.〕 Subsequent rivalries among these kingdoms gave the Portuguese an opportunity to get involved in internal politics.〔〔S.G. Perera p 20.〕 In 1557, the Kingdom of Kotte became a vassal state of Portugal.〔S.G. Perera p 43.〕〔Queyroz p 329.〕 In 1591, the Jaffna Kingdom was subjugated〔S.G. Perera p 63.〕 and in 1594, Sitawaka was annexed to Portuguese territory. By April 1594, only the Kingdom of Kandy stood in the way of the Portuguese completing their conquest of Sri Lanka.〔Gaston Perera p 177.〕 The Portuguese invaded the Kingdom of Kandy in 1594, 1602 and 1630, but they were defeated on all three occasions by the Kandyans.〔Channa W’singhe p 34 – 37.〕 Meanwhile, after 1602, Dutch envoys began visiting Kandy, and by 1638 negotiations were taking place for a Dutch–Kandyan alliance. A Portuguese army, led by Diogo de Melo de Castro, then invaded Kandy in order to capture it before an alliance could take place.〔Gaston Perera p 327.〕 However, the Portuguese army was annihilated on 28 March 1638 in a decisive battle at Gannoruwa.〔Gaston Perera p 341.〕 Meanwhile, the Dutch fleet arrived in Sri Lanka on 2 April 1638 and made contact with the Kandyans.〔Paul E. Peiris p 199.〕 Priority was given to capture the Batticaloa and Trincomalee forts. These forts were situated within Kandyan territory and had been built ten years earlier by the Portuguese in violation of the peace treaty that had then existed between the Portuguese and Kandyans.〔S.G. Perera p 102 – 103.〕 On 18 May, after being besieged for eight days by a combined Dutch-Kandyan army, the Portuguese commander surrendered the Batticaloa fort.〔Paul E. Peiris p 251.〕 Five days later, on 23 May 1638, a treaty was signed establishing an alliance between the Dutch and the Kandyans.〔Paul E. Peiris p 252.〕 On 2 May 1639,〔S.G. Perera p 114.〕 after a siege that lasted for 40 days,〔Queyroz p 817.〕 the Dutch captured the Trincomalee fort and on 9 February 1640, a combined Dutch–Kandyan army stormed and captured the Negombo fort.〔Queyroz p 825.〕 By the end of February, preparations were being made for the siege of Galle. Goa, the headquarters of Portugal's Asian territories (''Estado da Índia''), was resupplied annually from Lisbon by Portugal's India armadas. These resources were later distributed to the other Portuguese strongholds through further supply convoys and Sri Lanka received supplies and reinforcements twice a year in May and September. However, when ever a Portuguese stronghold was under threat, reinforcements were rushed to that place disregarding the normal procedures of supply.〔Gaston Perera p 42 – 45.〕 In 1636, Antonio van Diemen was appointed Governor General of Dutch East India Company. Under his leadership Dutch naval strategy underwent an important change. From 1636, van Diemen annually sent a fleet to blockade Goa, using this opportunity to attack other Portuguese processions as they were deprived of help.〔Baldaeus p 104.〕 He used this strategy in Sri Lanka and after the destruction of powerful Portuguese galleons in the battle of Mormugão on 30 September 1639, the Dutch were able to divert more ships and men to Sri Lanka.〔 On 14 March 1639, issuing a statement, Van Diemen declared that the time had come to drive the Portuguese out of their strongholds and to secure Dutch supremacy in the Indies.〔Peiris – Rise of Dutch Power p 72.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Siege of Galle (1640)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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