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.
Kotte, under the rule of Ming-backed Parakramabahu VI,[a] conquered the Jaffna kingdom and the Vanni principalities, and brought 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 Sitwaka and Kandy.
The term Kotte is said to have derived from the Sinhalese word kotta (කෝට්ට) and Tamil word kōttei which mean fortress.[1][b]The word Kotte was introduced by Nissankamalla Alagakkonara, who was the founder of the fortress. They were believed to be from the city of Vanchi, identified with Kanchipuram of Tamil Nadu.[4] The Alagakkonara family have also been identified to be of Tamil ancestry of Vallanattu Chettiar.