The Dutch built a fort here in 1672 on the site of an earlier Portuguese structure. What remains today is modest — a gate, some rampart walls, and a prison that still functions — but the setting near the lagoon gives a sense of why this location mattered. The Dutch used Negombo as a major cinnamon-trading post, and their canal system stretching north is the most lasting part of that legacy.
Dutch Fort
Remnants of a 1672 Dutch cinnamon-trading fort