The Matrioshka Principle and How it was Overcome: Portuguese and Habsburg Imperial Attitudes in Sri Lanka and the Responses of the Rulers of Kotte (1506-1598)

Abstract

Th is article deals with roughly the fi rst hundred years of Portuguese expansion in Sri Lanka (1506-1600), the local "reactions" to it, and how the interaction was changed when the Portuguese Crown fell to the Habsburgs in 1580. It analyzes how Portuguese and Sri Lankan notions of kingship, authority and Empire were included in a dialog that indicates the existence of commonalities in the fi eld of political culture. Th e imperial projects of Portugal and the Sri Lankan kingdom of Kotte, so it seems, had a potential for mutual accommodation, although some misunderstandings remained inevitable. Th e argument then moves to the transformations that occurred in the 1580's-90's, when a new policy of territorial conquest was put into practice by the Portuguese authorities. It is argued that this change of policy had to do with the Iberian Union of Crowns, although Spanish infl uence on Portuguese imperial policy in Asia was not linear. Crucially, another set of factors has to be sought in the Sri Lankan political landscape.

Power and Profit at Sea: The Rise of the West in the Making of the International System

“…77 In Sri Lanka, the ruler decreed that "whilst the Christians would be Lords of the sea, he would be Lord of the land." 78 Ultimately, by departing so far from market-clearing prices, the Portuguese may have later undermined their revenues through fostering corruption among their own officials and drawing in European competitors.…”