Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2025

DOI

10.4038/sljss.v48i02.9220

Publication Title

Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences

Volume

48

Issue

2

Pages

43- 51

Abstract

The website of the Municipal Council of Colombo asserts that it was founded in 1865 (Colombo Municipal Council, 2015). This is also the story that is recounted in scholarly histories of Colombo, in modern websites and in popular accounts of the history of the city. The objective of this article is to demonstrate that Colombo had a municipal council as early as the sixteenth century and to illuminate the story of its existence for over 70 years - until well into the seventeenth century. It also explores the functions of the council, its relationship with Portuguese officials who ruled the areas they controlled in Sri Lanka and question of whose interests were represented by this council. The article also contends that this first Municipal Council had a role in Portuguese administration that occasionally extended to policy-making on matters beyond the city.

Rights

This article is published under the Creative Commons CC-BY- ND License. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction, commercial and non-commercial, provided that the original work is properly cited and is not changed in anyway.

ORCID

0000-0002-2906-4601 (de Silva)

Original Publication Citation

de Silva, C. R. (2025). A forgotten piece of history: The story of the first municipal council of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Journal of Social Sciences, 48(2), 43-51. https://doi.org/10.4038/sljss.v48i02.9220

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