Siege of Galle (1640) 1640
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Date | 8 March 1640 – 13 March 1640 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1640 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Sri Lanka | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| Coordinates | 6.0258, 80.2175 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Siege of the Portuguese fort Santa Cruz de Gale at Galle in 1640, took place during the Dutch–Portuguese and Sinhalese–Portuguese Wars. The Galle fort commanded 282 villages, which contained the most fertile cinnamon lands in southern Sri Lanka It was also an important strategic coastal defense of Portuguese Ceylon. The Dutch, who were in an alliance with the Kingdom of Kandy, landed an expeditionary force under Commodore Willem Jacobszoon Coster of Akersloot, at the Bay of Galle, on 8 March 1640. After bombarding the fort for four consecutive days, Dutch troops stormed the fort and secured a victory on 13 March 1640. The Portuguese garrison, led by Captain Lourenço Ferreira de Brito, mounted a stiff resistance and unexpectedly high casualty rates among Dutch troops gave rise to the proverb "Gold in Malacca, lead in Galle". With this victory the Dutch gained access to a large port which they later used as a convenient naval base to attack Goa and other South Indian Portuguese defenses. They also gained access to the Sri Lankan cinnamon trade and gained a permanent foothold on the island.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Galle (1640) (revision 1370741390), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Browse more: battles in Sri Lanka · Asia · Early modern battles