Old photos of Colombo

Colombo, on the western coast of Sri Lanka, was a trading port known to Arab merchants long before the Portuguese arrived in 1505 and built a fort here in the following decades. The Dutch captured it in 1656 and strengthened the fortifications, dug canals and built the Wolvendaal church and residential quarters; the district still called Fort, and the neighbouring Pettah, take their names from this period. The British took Colombo in 1796 and made it the capital of the crown colony of Ceylon in 1802.

Under British rule the fort walls were demolished and the area rebuilt with government offices, banks and hotels. The construction of an artificial harbour with breakwaters in the late 19th century made Colombo one of the great ports of the Indian Ocean, a coaling station on the route between Europe and the Far East, and it displaced Galle as the island's main harbour. Coffee and then tea exports flowed through it. Ceylon gained independence in 1948, and Colombo remained the capital until the seat of parliament moved to nearby Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte in the 1980s. It remains the country's commercial centre.

Old photographs of Colombo typically show the harbour and breakwater with steamers, the clock tower and streets of the Fort, Galle Face green and its hotel, rickshaws and bullock carts in the Pettah, and the old parliament building.

What the photos show

The 314 photographs of Colombo on PlaceWas span 11 decades, from 1870 to 2024. 169 of them were taken before 1980; the other 145 are recent views of the same streets and landmarks.27 spots were photographed more than once, so you can compare the same street, square or building across the years.314 of the photos carry a written caption explaining what is in the frame. Every picture is pinned to the place it was taken, so the map below shows where the photographers stood.