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The Cruelest Portuguese-By Chandra Tilake Edirisuriya Courtesy Ceylon Today Features Source;Lankaweb Don Jeronimo de Azavedo, the cruelest of the Portuguese administrators in the East, was the Governor of Portuguese Ceylon from 1594 to 1612 and the Viceroy of Portuguese India from 1612 to 1617. De Azavedo was one of the officers who came with Captain of Colombo, Manoel de Souza Coutinho, who set sail for Colombo on 4 February 1588 with an armada of eighteen vessels conveying six hundred soldiers. On reaching land near Mannar they sent a message to Colombo calling for assistance to explore the coast. This was a time when plundering the country was the main preoccupation of the Portuguese. They landed on the shores of the Negombo lagoon and raided and burnt the village of Andiambalama. Then they proceeded to Chilaw but were prevented from landing by a small garrison of Sinhalese people. They destroyed the ...