Ceylon's trade relations with Coromandel during early British times, 1796 ..1837

Abstract

From early times the trading pattern of the island of Ceylon with the outside world had been dominated by the commercial links which had been developed with the neighbouring coasts of Malabar and CoromandeI. The commercial links with Malabar had been antedated by cultural contact which, by the time the British wrested control of maritime Ceylon from the Dutch, had been renewed and strengthened by the establishment of the Nayakkar dynasty in Kandy, the independent kingdom in the interior of the island. There had been cultural contact with Coromandel too, but the focal point of the relations between the two territories was commerce and it was this region which occupied the pride of place in the external commerce of Ceylon. The Coromandel trade was controlled by merchants drawn from the two coasts and it encompassed their numerous small ports and was in many respects an extension of the internal trade of the island. The merchants-had succeeded in forging close economic ties between the two coasts and a strong community of interest between the peoples of the two regions had been built up over the years. There is no doubt that this trading relationship was of vital importance to the sustenance of the economy of Ceylon, and indeed, as it has been asserted, may well have been its "life-line".