Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History
The Portuguese Discovery of Ceylon: Spice, War, and Empire
In 1505, a Portuguese fleet under Lourenço de Almeida was blown off course and stumbled upon the island of Ceylon, modern-day Sri Lanka. This episode explores how Portugal's Estado da Índia moved from accidental discovery to a brutal war of conquest for cinnamon monopolies. We follow the campaigns of Dom Jerónimo de Azevedo, the Kotte kingdom's Rajasinha I's guerrilla resistance, the rise of the Portuguese fort at Colombo, and the eventual transition of power to the Dutch in 1656. The story is one of shifting alliances, scorched-earth tactics, and the high price of controlling…
The skinny
The skinny isn't ready yet — notes appear once the transcript is processed.