Kingdom of Kotte
The Kingdom of Kotte (Sinhala: කෝට්ටේ රාජධානිය, romanized: Kottay Rajadhaniya, Tamil: கோட்டை அரசு), named after its capital, Kotte, was a Sinhalese kingdom that flourished in Sri Lanka during the 15th century.
Kingdom of Kotte කෝට්ටේ රාජධානිය | |||||||||||||
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| 1412–1597 | |||||||||||||
Flag of Kotte | |||||||||||||
The Kotte Kingdom at its greatest extent Kingdom of Kotte after the death of Parakramabahu VIII of Kotte in 1518 The Kingdom of Kotte (under Dharmapala of Kotte) in 1587 | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Kotte | ||||||||||||
| Official languages | Sinhalese | ||||||||||||
| Religion | Theravada Buddhism | ||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||
| Monarch | |||||||||||||
• 1412–1467 | Parakramabahu VI | ||||||||||||
• 1472-1480 | Bhuvanaikabahu VI | ||||||||||||
• 1484-1518 | Parakramabahu VIII | ||||||||||||
• 1551–1597 | Dharmapala | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Transitional period | ||||||||||||
| 1412 | |||||||||||||
• Disestablishment | 27 May 1597 | ||||||||||||
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| Historical states of Sri Lanka |
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Kotte, under the rule of Ming-backed Parakramabahu VI, conquered the Jaffna kingdom and the Vanni principalities, and brought the country under one flag. It led to a punitive invasion against the Vijayanagar dynasty and captured a port, which was converted to a trade route.
The Kotte Kingdom was largely dissolved during the Sinhalese-Portuguese War, as it faced attacks from rival Sinhalese kingdoms, the Kingdom of Sitawaka and Kingdom of Kandy. Dom João Dharmapala handed it over to the Portuguese, thus leading to the formation of Portuguese Ceylon. The remainder was annexed into Sitwaka and Kandy.