The Hegemony of Colombo from Way Back-by Michael Roberts
After discovering the Lorenz letters in the library of Royal Asiatic Society in the 1980s I worked on the history of the island in the nineteenth century-and-thereafter with aid from Percy Colin-Thome and Ismeth Raheem in a book which appeared as People Inbetween under the imprint of Sarvodaya Book Publishing Services in 1989. One of its central themes is embodied in a chapter entitled “Colonial Transitions: The Development of Colombo’s Hegemonic Power.”
As central supports in favour of this thesis, I drew on the knowledge and skills of personnel from the old Department of Geography at Peradeniya in the 960s who were teaching then in the 1980s in Colombo: namely, Kusuma Gunawardena and Percy Silva.
Their graphic work in four maps composed in pursuit of my suggestion captures the lineaments of my thesis in eye-catching and graphic form. Do please take it in.
