Architectural view of Colombo - Sri Lanka

The name Colombo was bestowed upon by the Portuguese. The place which is named as “Kayman Gate “is the start of the river. Then, it was introduced as “Colom Thota” and now it is named as Colombo. It is the business capital of Sri Lanka in the present.

However , Colombo is not perfectly suitable for town planning geographically since it consists of so many wetlands , marshes , paddy fields and water bodies . Not only that , the regular floods caused by overflowing of Kelani river has also made Colombo an unsuitable place for being constructed as the capital of the country . Surpassing all these unfavorable conditions, having a natural harbor in the locality gave Colombo a great opportunity to be developed as the capital of the country. Hence, since 18th century, Colombo has been identified as an active city. It gained more development during the colonial period; The Colombo fort played a major role in this development. All the entire main sections of the city such as business, administration, education, recreation… etc. Were planned and developed considering the fort as the centre of Colombo.

Evolution Colombo…..

Portuguese period – Colombo
During this period Portuguese started to deal with Chinese and Arabic merchants. In 1518, Colombo was like a paradise to all these business connections. The harbor was the most important reasons for this.

Portuguese period –City Plan
In 15th century they planed the city properly. This planning was done very carefully and Pettah and Fort were well covered by this plan Pettah was designed for administration while Fort was designed security purposes. In addition, outer city was planned with a typical European road pattern.

Dutch Period _ Colombo
As a result of the conflict in between Portuguese and Dutch, Sri Lanka was surrounded by Dutch after the Portuguese and these second invaders didn’t leave any single trace of the first. In country planning, Dutch people had received a very high place. Colombo is the bear evidence to prove this.

Dutch Period -City Plan
They planed the city cover each and every sector. They designed the castle on sea side, the city in North East and a sweet river in South East. They reconstructed some of the road built by Portuguese and made them broader and more pleasant. They grow lines of trees either side of the road and paid more attention on cleanliness.
As well, they paid more attention on iconic buildings. The buildings such as administrative centers were highlighted in their construction.

English Period
Town planning done by the Dutch was demolished during the British period. A considerable growth in population could be seen in Colombo in this era and everything seemed to be compact.

In this way, passing several eras and facing numerous changers for a long period, Colombo has been recognized internationally as the business capital of Sri Lanka today. As a result of passing three colonial periods, Colombo has been influenced by European culture. Even today, we follow the town planning introduced to us by these European nations who ruled our country in past few centuries.
A grid pattern network introduced by Europeans can be seen in Pettah and Fort. All the roads in this network were named and allocated for a particular purpose. As an example, the road named as a “Maliban Street“was allocated for the Dutch Ladies to walk leisurely. It was a fashionable road with shaded of trees which was exclusively for the rich. But after the colonial period, it was changed. With the open economy introduced in 1977, The economical business and consumption were changed greatly. But from then to now, there is one factor that has never changed and that is Colombo Fort. Even n the present, all the important sectors of the city such as roads, buildings and urban zoning have been planed taking Fort as the centre because in important and export economy, it is considered to be the Colombo.