João de Correia de Brito

João de Correia de Brito
15th Captain-major of Portuguese Ceylon
In office 1583–1590
Monarch	Philip I of Portugal
Preceded by	Manuel de Sousa Coutinho
Succeeded by	Simão de Brito

João de Correia de Brito was the 15th Captain-major of Portuguese Ceylon. Brito was appointed in 1583 under Philip I of Portugal, he was Captain-major until 1590. He was succeeded by Simão de Brito.^[1]

Against overwhelming odds at the second siege of Colombo by Rajasinha I of Sitawaka in 1587, Brito successfully defended the last Portuguese garrison and king Dharmapala of Kotte stationed at Colombo fort. The garrison consisted of about 300 Portuguese soldiers and forces loyal to Dharmapala.^[2] In 1594 the Portuguese and Kotte forces went on to capture the Kingdom of Sitawaka after the Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom in 1591. in 1656 the Dutch captured Colombo.

References

1. Cahoon, Ben. "Captains-major". Sri Lanka. Worldstatesmen. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
2. Karunathilake, Halaliye. "King Rajasinghe’s battle of Colombo". Sri Lanka. Sunday times. Retrieved 4 November 2015.