S. Arasaratnam - François Valentijns Description of Ceylon,1726

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Franois Valentijn's Description of Ceylon

(Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, 1726)

Edited by
S. Arasaratnam

First published by Ashgate Publishing

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Founded in 1846, the Hakluyt Society seeks to advance knowledge and education by the publication of scholarly editions of primary records of voyages, travels and other geographical material. In partnership with Ashgate, and using print-on-demand and e-book technology, the Society has made re-available all 290 volumes comprised in Series I and Series II of its publications in both print and digital editions. For information about the Hakluyt Society visit www.hakluyt.com .

ISBN 13: 978-0-904180-06-0 (hbk)

WORKS ISSUED BY THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY

FRANOIS VALENTIJN'S DESCRIPTION OF CEYLON

SECOND SERIES NO. 149

ISSUED FOR 1975

Hakluyt Society

COUNCIL AND OFFICERS, 1976-77
President
DR E. S. DE BEER, C.B.E., F.B.A.

Vice-Presidents

PROFESSOR C. F. BECKINGHAM PROFESSOR C. R. BOXER, F.B.A., SIR ALAN BURNS, G.C.M.G., G. R. CRONE SIR GILBERT LAITHWAITE, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., K.C.I.E., C.S.I. PROFESSOR D. b. QUINN

Council (with date of election)
PROFESSOR J. W. BLAKE, C.B.E. (1972)
DR R. C. BRIDGES (1976)
PROFESSOR J. S. CUMMINS (1973)
STEPHEN EASTON (1975)
DR J. B. HARLEY (1971)
P. H. HULTON (1974)
M. J. MOYNIHAN (1976)
SIR EDWARD MUIR, K.C.B. (1974)
JOHN PISANI (1972)
Royal Commonwealth Society (D. H. SIMPSON, 1973)
Royal Geographical Society (MRS DOROTHY MIDDLETON)
DR GEOFFREY SCAMMELL (1974)
DR SUSAN A. SKILLITER (1975)
PETER STOCXHAM (1973)
DR J. W. STOYE (1975)
COMMANDER D. W. WATERS, R.N. (1972)
PROFESSOR GLYNDWR WILLIAMS (1976)
Trustees
SIR ALAN BURNS, G.C.M.G. SIR PHILIP HAY, K.C. V.O., T.D.
SIR GILBERT LAITHWAITE, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., K.C.I.E., C.S.I.
THE RT. HON. LORD RENNELL OF RODD, K.B.E., C.B.
Honorary Treasurer
J. F. MAGGS

Honorary Secretaries

DR .. ARMSTRONG, Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge CB2 1ER PROFESSOR EILA M. J. CAMPBELL, Birkbeck College, 7-15 Gresse Street, London WIP IPA

Honorary Secretaries for Overseas

Australia: D. McD. HUNT, The Public Library of N.S.W., Macquarie Street, Sydney, N.S.W. 2000.

Canada: Professor J. B. Bird, McGill University, Montreal.

India: D R S. GAL, Historical Division, Ministry of External Affairs, 3 Man Singh Road, New Delhi.

South Africa: PROFESSOR ERIC AXELSON , University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, S.A,

New Zealand: J. E, TRAUE, The Alexander Turnbull Library, P.O. Box 12-349, Wellington C.I.

U.S.A. : R. ARMSTRONG, Boston Athenaeum, 10 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02108

Administrative Assistant
MRS ALEXA BARROW,

Hakluyt Society, c/o The Map Library, The British Library, Reference Division, Great Russell Street, London WCIB 3DG

Title page of Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien

Franois Valentijn's Description of Ceylon

Translated and Edited by

SINNAPPAH ARASARATNAM

THE HAKLUYT SOCIETY
LONDON
1978

The Hakluyt Society 1978

ISBN 0 904180 o6 9

Printed in Great Britain

by Robert MacLehose and Company Limited

Printers to the University of Glasgow

Published by the Hakluyt Society

c/o The British Library

London WCIB 3DG

FOR MY PARENTS

Contents

1. F3
2. F4
3. i
4. ii

Guide

1. Fig. 1. Title page of Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien

Maps

1. 7. New map of the island drawn by Francois Valentijn (Valentijn V. 1, facing p. 22)

Through over two decades of study of Dutch overseas expansion of the chartered company period, I have had to consult continuously and fruitfully the many volumes of Valentijn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien. I have become particularly familiar with the fifth volume which deals with the southern Asian region which has been my special interest over these years. I have referred to this volume frequently and have utilised its abundant material on Ceylon, Malabar and Coromandel, in my writings on the commerce and society of this region. My debt to Valentijn as a source book has indeed been great.

That a critically annotated edition of Valentijn's description of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka) was a feasible proposition did not occur to me for a long time. I was perhaps put off by the enormity of its size (462 folio pages), its repetitiveness and its encyclopaedic character. The idea was put to me by my former colleagues and friends in the University of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) who also suggested that it might become a volume in the publications of the Hakluyt Society. I took up their suggestion and made approaches to the Society and a proposal for a shortened one-volume edition of Valentijn's description of Ceylon was duly approved by that Society.

Immediately after starting work on the project, I moved from the University of Malaya to the University of New England, a move which caused an understandable delay in progress. When I resumed the work in New England, I had the benefit of generous research grants, support and encouragement of research by the University authorities and, above all, a congenial scholarly atmosphere in the University and the Department of History. The staff of the Dixson Library has always been helpful and co-operative as have also the staff of the other major University Libraries and the National Library of Australia. Work on this project had, however, to take third place, behind teaching and administrative tasks.

The task of editing Valentijn calls for expertise in a number of fields of study and a number of languages. Over and over again my own inadequacies in undertaking it have come home to me. I hope I will have the understanding and sympathy that the magnitude of the task requires.

The present edition consists of the first twelve chapters of Valentijn's description of Ceylon. These chapters bring the historical narrative up to the expulsion of the Portuguese from Ceylon and its environs by the Dutch East India Company. The following sections have been omitted from the text:

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