March 2 in History
1815 – Signing of the Kandyan Convention treaty by British invaders and the leaders of the Kingdom of Kandy
The Kandyan Convention was an agreement signed on this day 1815 between the British and the chiefs of the Kandyan Kingdom, British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) for the deposition of King Sri Vikrama Rajasinha and ceding of the kingdom’s territory to British rule. The king, of South Indian ancestry, faced powerful opposition from the Sinhalese chieftains who sought to limit his power. A successful coup was organized by the chieftains, marking the end of 2358 years of self-rule on the island and resulting in the imprisonment of the king in Vellore. The treaty is quite unique in that it was not signed by the monarch on the throne but by members of his court and other dignitaries of the kingdom. The convention gained a degree of infamy when, according to apocryphal sources, Wariyapola Sri Sumangala, a Buddhist monk of the kingdom, seized and trampled a Union Jack hoisted by the British, demanding the flag of Kandy be left flying until the Convention was signed. The authenticity of the native signatures have recently been called into question.
-Wikipedia
Photo Caption – An image of the first and last pages of the Kandyan Convention of 1815 – Wikipepdia