Kingdom of Kotte

Kingdom of Kotte
කෝට්ටේ රාජධානිය
1412–1597
Flag of Kotte
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
CapitalKotte
Official languagesSinhalese, Tamil
Religion
Theravada Buddhism
GovernmentMonarchy
King 
• 1412–1467
Parakramabahu VI
• 1472–1480
Bhuvanaikabahu VI
• 1484–1518
Parakramabahu VIII
• 1551–1597
Dharmapala
Historical eraTransitional period
• Capital moved from Gampola
1412
• Disestablishment
27 May 1597
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Kingdom of Gampola
Kingdom of Kandy
Kingdom of Sitawaka
Portuguese Ceylon
Map of Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (1557–1565)

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.

Founded by Parakramabahu VI with the help of the Ming,[a] the Kingdom managed to conquer the Jaffna kingdom and the Vanni principalities, and bring 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 Sitawaka and Kandy.
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