Lourenço de Almeida Archives

Portuguese-Sri Lankan Surnames And Their Meanings Source:Roar.media The Portuguese arrived in Ceylon, or Ceilão, as they called it, by chance. In 1505, a fleet commanded by Lourenço de Almeida—the son of Francisco de Almeida, the first viceroy of Portuguese India—was blown into Galle by adverse winds. It was thirteen years later, in 1518, that the Portuguese established formal contact with the Kingdom of Kotte, ruled by Vira Parakrama Bahu, and were permitted to build a fort in Colombo. Although the Portuguese were primarily interested in exploring trade and commercial opportunities in Sri Lanka, an opening for greater exploitation presented itself in the form of seven warring kingdoms within the island. With time, the kingdom of Kotte began to depend heavily on the Portuguese for defense against the other kingdoms, leading to an enhanced role for the Portuguese in Sri Lankan affairs. ...

A Biographical Anecdote: Being a Perera: “What’s in a Name…?” by KKS PERERA A reader and a well-known Buddhist scholar mailed a comment in response to my article on a full moon day entitled, ‘Futility of Abhi-dhamma in the Path of Emancipation’ with a harsh personal attack saying , ‘You are a skeptic heathenist with a Portuguese name who is trying to …’ [sorry, the rest is unprintable, but I referred the dictionary and made a short reply thanking him for upgrading my poor vocabulary]; he, however, coaxed me to reminisce down memory lane to mid 1950s, when our teacher, Mrs … Perera was taking a class on Ceylon history at lower school, St John’s College, Panadura. “All Pereras, please raise your hands.” A rather friendly appeal than a command made to the seventh standard in the mixed school. Five of us responded to her request and among them ...