Negombo Lagoon

Negombo Lagoon lies behind Sri Lanka's western shore, opening to the sea beside a narrow strip of land that became the site of a Portuguese fort. Sheltered water and the nearby sea entrance gave the position value within the struggle for the coast north of Colombo. The fort's history shows how this particular lagoon margin entered the military geography of European expansion.

Dutch forces under Philip Lucasz captured the Portuguese fort in February 1640, but the Portuguese recovered it that December. After strengthening the defences, they held it until January 1644, when François Caron's Dutch forces retook the position. Dutch artillery had destroyed the original bastions during the siege. In 1672 the Dutch rebuilt the fort on a pentagonal plan, although only four of the intended five bastions were constructed. The lagoon and inlet thus framed a repeatedly contested foothold, where access by water and the defence of a small coastal site mattered to the wider contest for western Sri Lanka.