Old Colombo
Colombo, Twentieth Century
An extraction of Changing Face of Colombo by R. L. Brohier (1892-1980)
It is not only probable, but certain, that originally the Arab traders exercised great influence over the opulent commerce of Ceylon, and that Colombo was long used by them as a trading center.
This opulent commerce passed over to the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British in succession, from early years of the sixteenth century as each of these European nations was brought into communication with the East.
All these western powers made Colombo the principal distributing center of the island’s import and export trade, and recognized it as the capital city of Ceylon. Thus Colombo grew in the past five centuries by filling marsh-land and cutting back jungle around a bleak coastal headland which was its nucleus. In a sense Colombo is a city forced on the peoples of Ceylon in spite of themselves. It was never a creation of their own choice or making.
Consequently as a cosmopolis, Colombo probably brooks no rival. Even its more recent skyward surge in buildings and its prolific spread of suburbs-which is indeed staggering, bear the hall-mark of utilitarian Government architecture and no planning or aesthetic considerations. Yet the city contrives to achieve beauty in its own way in spite of everything.
He that would explore and know the latent inscrutable and real Colombo, must escape from pleasant ease of the city’s ultramodern hostelries, or drowsing bungalows and nests of concrete flats to wander solitary-with a strong hold on caution, in those zones known as the Fort and the Pettah.
The real Colombo scene rooted to human continuity and formulated on traditions, blending the culture of the Arab, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British occupation lies in these two segments of the modern city. One senses it in the fantasy of jostling polyglot crowds and pestering hawkers, in the slow-moving bullock, or the handcarts, which, together with lumbering lorries, clog the narrow thoroughfare. One hears it in the bargaining which goes on incessantly in a collective sibilant mutter of tongues. One sees it in the shops opening on to sidewalks like dingy dens, which if perceived closely, in their architectural norms of plaster, brick, and other wood-work over door, and gable, have been bequeathed by Portugal, Holland and Britain. An aura of history cloaks almost every corner, for this is “Old Colombo”.
Even when darkness falls and removes the languor of the fiery day the Fort and Pettah are by no means deserted. From the most improbable corners filled with garbage, refuse, rags and filth, there creep out shrouded figures intent on the secret business of their lives. But these highlights are necessarily reserved for the visitor who is vigilant and sufficiently courageous to undertake explorations at night.
Supplementary to the standard works by the Portuguese and Dutch historians, there is much information about “Old Colombo” found scattered in forgotten pages of old almanacs, gazettes, magazines and pamphlets. I have consulted many of these sources in my endeavor to afford an indulgent reader a few glimpses of the outward aspects of the trading center established by the Arabs, and the forts built by the Portuguese and the Dutch which the centuries since gone by have all but rubbed out. Writing this, as I do at the age of fourscore years, with the assistance of the collective memory of forbears who had come out East with the Dutch East India Company and settled in Colombo in the year 1777, this brief review sets out certain personal lines of thought, traditions and inquiry which many reader may find profitable and even amusing.
R. L. Brohier (1892-1980), Colombo, Ceylon: Changing Face of Colombo, 1984
Colombo, Twentieth Century
An extraction of Changing Face of Colombo by R. L. Brohier (1892-1980)
It is not only probable, but certain, that originally the Arab traders exercised great influence over the opulent commerce of Ceylon, and that Colombo was long used by them as a trading center.
This opulent commerce passed over to the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British in succession, from early years of the sixteenth century as each of these European nations was brought into communication with the East.
All these western powers made Colombo the principal distributing center of the island’s import and export trade, and recognized it as the capital city of Ceylon. Thus Colombo grew in the past five centuries by filling marsh-land and cutting back jungle around a bleak coastal headland which was its nucleus. In a sense Colombo is a city forced on the peoples of Ceylon in spite of themselves. It was never a creation of their own choice or making.
Consequently as a cosmopolis, Colombo probably brooks no rival. Even its more recent skyward surge in buildings and its prolific spread of suburbs-which is indeed staggering, bear the hall-mark of utilitarian Government architecture and no planning or aesthetic considerations. Yet the city contrives to achieve beauty in its own way in spite of everything.
He that would explore and know the latent inscrutable and real Colombo, must escape from pleasant ease of the city’s ultramodern hostelries, or drowsing bungalows and nests of concrete flats to wander solitary-with a strong hold on caution, in those zones known as the Fort and the Pettah.
The real Colombo scene rooted to human continuity and formulated on traditions, blending the culture of the Arab, the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British occupation lies in these two segments of the modern city. One senses it in the fantasy of jostling polyglot crowds and pestering hawkers, in the slow-moving bullock, or the handcarts, which, together with lumbering lorries, clog the narrow thoroughfare. One hears it in the bargaining which goes on incessantly in a collective sibilant mutter of tongues. One sees it in the shops opening on to sidewalks like dingy dens, which if perceived closely, in their architectural norms of plaster, brick, and other wood-work over door, and gable, have been bequeathed by Portugal, Holland and Britain. An aura of history cloaks almost every corner, for this is “Old Colombo”.
Even when darkness falls and removes the languor of the fiery day the Fort and Pettah are by no means deserted. From the most improbable corners filled with garbage, refuse, rags and filth, there creep out shrouded figures intent on the secret business of their lives. But these highlights are necessarily reserved for the visitor who is vigilant and sufficiently courageous to undertake explorations at night.
Supplementary to the standard works by the Portuguese and Dutch historians, there is much information about “Old Colombo” found scattered in forgotten pages of old almanacs, gazettes, magazines and pamphlets. I have consulted many of these sources in my endeavor to afford an indulgent reader a few glimpses of the outward aspects of the trading center established by the Arabs, and the forts built by the Portuguese and the Dutch which the centuries since gone by have all but rubbed out. Writing this, as I do at the age of fourscore years, with the assistance of the collective memory of forbears who had come out East with the Dutch East India Company and settled in Colombo in the year 1777, this brief review sets out certain personal lines of thought, traditions and inquiry which many reader may find profitable and even amusing.
R. L. Brohier (1892-1980), Colombo, Ceylon: Changing Face of Colombo, 1984
