Places like Dutch fort Batticaloa attract both local and foreign travelers from all around the world. It is the main city of Eastern province of Sri Lanka. This Dutch fort of Batticaloa was built on 1628 as a trading and economical administration center of Ceylon in the Colonial era. It was used to trade cinnamon, pepper, chilly and miscellaneous things to other countries. Batticaloa is called as the ‘land of the singing fish’. Not only that but also it is a testimony of Sri Lankan history. At that time Portuguese governors were in charge of Ceylon. The Fort bulges into a lacustrine plain. With the arrival of Dutch to Ceylon in 1602, Kandyan King Rajasingha pleased to Dutch to eradicate Portuguese from the island. As a result of that Dutch captured the fort Batticaloa in 1638 and evidenced their primacy to the world. The Fort had been under control of the Dutch nearly for 20 years. But Sri Lanka was again invaded by the Britains. So that the Dutch had to surrender Britains and the fort had to hand over to the Britain in 1772. Therefore the fort is a memorial of all those 3 colonies.
The fort is bordered by a gutter. Fort Batticaloa is now an archeological site, being preserved for our future generation. High stone walls, especially the remaining Buddhist stupa and shatra which belongs to Ruhunu Kindom are facts that support to the religious inference in the 1st century. The stupa was placed by the King Kavantissa. Today structures of 4 bastions are preserved from the entire natural disasters. There are several other buildings around the fort built at different periods.
Due to the natural disasters like Tsunami and Sea erosion, have dominated to damage the fort. Therefore the authorities must react to conserve this beautiful significant place. in that case, we would lose a great historical and religious symbol of our nation. In fact the place has not been well conserved since last 30 years whereas a War between Sri Lankan Army and the L.T.T.E.took place. Rather than that the fort is still in good condition to be visited. Although a perfect view of the Indian Ocean can be seen from the Batticaloa lagoon. Thus you can entertain the multi cultural backgrounds at Batticaloa. Batticaloa lagoon consists a wide range of mangrove swamps, coral reef, and some sea grass beds. This solid looking fort is a great place to be traveled. Today it houses majority to government offices.