Galle

Galle

(116km south of Colombo)
Of South Asia’s port cities, Sri Lanka’s Galle – pronounced “Gaul” - is remarkable due to its extensive maritime history, international trading links and threefold colonial domination, which led to a diverse and shifting ethnic composition. Unusually, one of the colonial powers – the Dutch - left a valuable legacy in the form of the best-preserved sea fort in South Asia, whose substantial ramparts and bastions largely protect it from the type of modernization and homogenization that has blighted most urban areas of the region.
More unusual still is that during the past decade a small army of privileged Europeans has recognized the fort’s attributes and ambience (and appreciated the bargain price of property) by purchasing and renovating many of the neglected 300-year-old architecturally-important Dutch residences. While these self-described “fabulous nobodies” have contributed to the preservation of Galle’s heritage, the irony that the fort has once again become an enclave for acquisitive outsiders is pervasive.

Galle’s location at the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, with only the Antarctic more than 5,000 miles beyond, ensured the prominence of the port during the early history of navigation. Not surprisingly, it became the natural focal point at the southernmost part of the Silk Routes that connected Asia with the Mediterranean. Galle also provided a relatively equidistant location for Arab and Chinese ships to converge and trade, thus avoiding much longer voyages. It had a fine natural harbour protected to the southeast by an elevated headland and to the northwest by a flat peninsular, although there were submerged rocks and lack of protection from the southwest monsoon.