Dutch and British Colonial Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1780 - 1815 ― Expansion and Reform

The period 1780-1815 was a transitional stage in the colonial history of Sri Lanka (dubbed Ceylon by its colonial overseers), in which Dutch intervention gave way to British control around 1796. Seeking to understand the relationships between the Dutch and British powers, local Eurasian communities, and the indigenous elites of the Kingdom of Kandy, Schrikker (a historian and coordinator of the Encountering a Common Past in Asia program at Leiden U., the Netherlands) examines the ways colonial policy intentions were translated by decision-making processes and practices on the spot. For both the Dutch and British periods, she examines three major research topics: colonial state- formation processes and the impact of native agency, colonial views of their presence and territorial power and the influence of such views on colonial political intentions, and the political relationship between the Kings of Kandy and the colonial powers and the impact of that relationship on the colonial political regime that emerged following the subjugation of the kingdom and the formal political unification of the island in 1815. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Alicia Schrikker (1976) obtained her MA in History at Leiden University in 2001 and received her doctorate in History at the same university in 2006. Her main interests include the history of the Asian-European interaction and colonial state formation. She is currently employed at Leiden University as coordinator of the ENCOMPASS (Encountering a Common Past in Asia) programme.