Origins of Kollupitiya (Colpitty)

Origins of Kollupitiya (Colpitty)

There was a time when Kollupitiya was known as Baradeniya. It was a beautiful rustic village with coconut gardens and cinnamon trees that grew wild and narrow cart-tracks which connected the few villas and homes here with the rest of the country. For the purpose of postal services ‘Colombo 03’ consists of Kollupitiya.

How Baradeniya became Kollupitiya

The year was 1664 and the king was Rajasinghe II whose cruel acts embittered his subjects. Three Kandiyan chiefs sought to slay the king and place his 12-year-old son on the throne. One of the conspirators was Udanuwara Ambanwela Appuhamy. When the plot failed, the king had two of the rebel leaders beheaded. However, instead of executing Abanwela Appuhamy, the most feared of the rebels, he handed him over to the Dutch to undergo what he thought would be a more brutal torture. Instead the Dutch set him free. Ambanwela Appuhamy took the Dutch name of Van Ry-cloff and built up a good relationship with the Dutch who gave him a large plot of land by the sea where he grew a coconut plantation which soon expanded over the ancestral farms of the natives who dared not complain. They could only retaliate by calling the plantation Kolla-ke-pitiya meaning 'Plundered land'. Today, there is still an area in Kollupitiya that is called Polwatte.

The footprints of Galle Face

Colombo 03 begins with Galle face south of Colombo Fort (Colombo 01). Originally a vast swamp, the Portuguese and Dutch used this piece of land as a strategic defense. It was the British who developed the Green into a leisure ground. The 19th century paintings of John Deschamps, show the Galle-Face esplanade with a high road running through the centre of it. Added later was a promenade by the sea and a driveway bordering the lake where the Dutch Military cemetery was. Deschamps describes it as forming not only the principal exercising ground of the garrison, but also the general promenade of the inhabitants of Colombo and its vicinity. “On foot, on horseback, or in carriages, people flocked to this salubrious setting to inhale the delicious breeze which is almost always to be found by the sea side of this part of the Island”. The Galle Face esplanade or Green was established by Governor Ward in 1859. An inscription reads "in the interest of the ladies and children of Colombo ".

Cricket, football and polo were played on the Green. In 1829, horse racing was established under the auspices of Sir Edward Barnes. A circular race stand was built by subscription. Initially it was a building of brick, coated with a plaster of chunam. Its conical roof was covered with an excellent thatch of kehjan (woven coconut leaves). From here a view of the whole course could be obtained. The race-balls were held here, the upper room being cool and airy for dancing; card-tables were placed in the verandahs, whilst the lower portion formed a good supper-room. Subsequently the roof was tiled. By the 1870s it had become a more substantial building and was known as the Colombo Club. This building still stands, even though maybe not in its original modest form, and is now the Crystal Ballroom of the Taj Samudra Hotel Colombo.

At one end of the green was the Galle Face Boarding House, forerunner of the present Galle Face Hotelwhich was constructed in 1887. Today the green has lost much in its extent but after a long period of neglect has recently been restored back to the ch

Over het district Colombo

Colombo is de grootste stad en commerciële hoofdstad van Sri Lanka. Het ligt aan de westkust van het eiland en grenst aan Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte, de hoofdstad van Sri Lanka. Colombo is een drukke en levendige stad met een mix van modern leven en koloniale gebouwen en ruïnes, en een stadsbevolking van 647.100. De metropoolregio Colombo, gedefinieerd door de districten Colombo, Gampaha en Kalutara, heeft een geschatte bevolking van 5.648.000 en beslaat een oppervlakte van 3.694,20 km². Colombo is een multi-etnische, multiculturele stad. Het is de meest bevolkte stad van Sri Lanka, met 642.163 mensen die binnen de stadsgrenzen wonen. De bevolking van Colombo is een mix van verschillende etnische groepen, voornamelijk Singalezen, Moren en Tamils. Er wonen ook kleine gemeenschappen van mensen met Chinese, Portugese, Nederlandse, Maleisische en Indiase afkomst in de stad, evenals talloze Europese expats. De overgrote meerderheid van de Sri Lankaanse bedrijven heeft hun hoofdkantoor in Colombo. Enkele van de industrieën die er actief zijn, zijn chemie, textiel, glas, cement, lederwaren, meubels en sieraden. In het stadscentrum staat het op één na hoogste gebouw van Zuid-Azië: het World Trade Centre.

Over de Westelijke Provincie

The Western Province is the most densely populated province of Sri Lanka. It is home to the legislative capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte as well to Colombo, the nation's administrative and business center. Western Province is divided into 3 main districts called Colombo (642 km²), Gampaha (1,386.6 km²) and Kalutara (1,606 km²) districts. As Sri Lanka's economic hub, all the major local and international corporations have their presence in the city and so do all the major designer and high street retailers, so be ready to indulge in some retail therapy in western province.

Having the highest population in the all the provinces, the almost all the premier educational institutions in the island are located in western province. Universities in the province include the University of Colombo, the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Kelaniya, Open University, Sri Lanka, Buddhist and Pali University of Sri Lanka, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University and University of Moratuwa .Western province has the largest amount of schools in the country, which includes National, Provincial, Private and International schools.

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