The challenges of writing the history of localities that were under colonial rule in the early phase of European expansion: An investigation into writing the history of Negombo (Sri Lanka) in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

Abstract

Local history has been conventionally defined as a chronicle of a limited geographical area. The study of local history can have positive outcomes including reconstructing our ancestor’s everyday lives and providing opportunities for students to develop investigative research skills, develop linkages with locals and to also motivate students to improve their basic skills of reading, writing and critical thinking. Unlike in the West, however, where local historians use old records of their locality, local historians of lands colonized by Westerners have problems finding source material. For example, in Sri Lanka, the Portuguese occupying the southwest lowlands destroyed Buddhist and Hindu temples which often contained local records. They tried to replace the temples with Roman Catholic churches, but these records also seem to have been lost when they were also mostly abandoned or destroyed under Calvinist Dutch rule. This article, based on an examination of Portuguese archival material relating to an area on the western coast of Sri Lanka during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, argues that, despite the gaps created by the loss of local records, data from colonial archival sources when used with a critical eye, can be used to give us some insights on economic practices within localities that were colonized. They also provide at least a glimpse of both the changes and the continuities in the life of the people, as well as the economic burdens imposed on them by the state during colonial rule and the social changes that resulted from colonial policies.