The old 19th century Dutch canal (Hamilton Canal) runs from the north bank of Kelani Ganga, where it enters the sea at Hendala, a little to the north of Colombo, to the southern tip of the Negombo lagoon, and then winds through the middle of the town, and to its northern end at Puttalam, more than 120 kilometres away.
The history of the canal network goes back to the reign of King Veera Parakramabahu VIII (1477-1496) who ruled the Kingdom of Kotte. It is said that the King constructed the canal connecting outlying villages with Colombo and the Negombo Lagoon, to ease the transport of spices and most important of all, cinnamon, to the Kingdom’s main ports.
The Portuguese constructed the original canal in the 17th century, but it was the traders from the Dutch East India Company who expanded the canal, in the next century. The Dutch settlers also used the canal to transport pearls and spices from the north to Colombo.
The Dutch were displaced by the British. Between 1802 and 1804, when the island was under British rule, a new Colombo- Negombo canal was built and commissioned. It was named, the Hamilton Canal in 1804, after the well-known English civil servant Garvin Hamilton, who was based in Colombo. Hamilton Canal ran west of the Old Dutch Canal, quite close to the sea, from the mouth of the Kelani Ganga at Hekitta to the southern edge of the Negombo Lagoon at Pamunugama, a distance of 21.5 kilometres.
Read more: Hamilton Canal: An ingenious waterway feat
The history of the canal network goes back to the reign of King Veera Parakramabahu VIII (1477-1496) who ruled the Kingdom of Kotte. It is said that the King constructed the canal connecting outlying villages with Colombo and the Negombo Lagoon, to ease the transport of spices and most important of all, cinnamon, to the Kingdom’s main ports.
The Portuguese constructed the original canal in the 17th century, but it was the traders from the Dutch East India Company who expanded the canal, in the next century. The Dutch settlers also used the canal to transport pearls and spices from the north to Colombo.
The Dutch were displaced by the British. Between 1802 and 1804, when the island was under British rule, a new Colombo- Negombo canal was built and commissioned. It was named, the Hamilton Canal in 1804, after the well-known English civil servant Garvin Hamilton, who was based in Colombo. Hamilton Canal ran west of the Old Dutch Canal, quite close to the sea, from the mouth of the Kelani Ganga at Hekitta to the southern edge of the Negombo Lagoon at Pamunugama, a distance of 21.5 kilometres.
Read more: Hamilton Canal: An ingenious waterway feat
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