The Kandyan Treaty of 1638 was a treaty between the

Kingdom of Kandy The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century. Initially a client kingdom of the Ki ...

and the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...

signed by King Rajasinghe II and Dutch Naval Commander Adam Westerwold and Vice Commander Willem Jacobszoon Coster of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

. The treaty was signed on 23 May, 1638 in

Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...

. The treaty secured the terms under which the two nations would cooperate in defending the Kandyan Kingdom from the Portuguese.

Key content

#The Dutch agree to support the king of Kandy to drive the Portuguese from the country. #The Kandyan king would settle Dutch military debt incurred through battle against the Portuguese with commodities such as cinnamon, pepper and beeswax. #Grant the Dutch the monopoly of collecting commodities from the Kandyan areas except for elephants. #Agree to deploy, if the king wished to do so (this phrase was removed in the Sinhala translation in which the Dutch smuggled the king to sign this), the Dutch army at the fortresses that would be captured from the Portuguese. {{Kandyan period topics Kandyan period Treaties of the Kingdom of Kandy 1638 treaties Treaties of the Dutch Republic History of Kandy Treaties of the Dutch East India Company 1638 in the Dutch Empire