Colombo

Sri Lanka's bustling capital, is located on the country's west coast and with a population of between 800,000 and one million (estimates vary) is by far the country's biggest city, as well as its window on the world. Its natural harbour at the mouth of the Kelani River was a magnet for successive traders and conquerors - first Arab merchants, then Portuguese, Dutch and British imperialists.

The city is a sometimes jarring mix of old and new,with a central cluster of high-rise office blocks and hotels overshadowing red-tiled colonial-era buildings and sprawling street markets which overflow with highpiled fruit and vegetables, colourful silks and cottons, and deliciously fragrant spices.

On its crowded streets stand places of worship symbolic of Sri Lanka's multi-ethnic heritage: graceful Buddhist viharas, for instance, stand close to gaudy temples encrusted with Hindu statuary, and Muslim mosques with slender minarets.

Colombo's streets, which buzz with life during the day - when its population is swollen by some 400,000 commuting workers - are virtually empty after nightfall,with little nightlife outside a handful of international-standard hotels.

During the day, however, its colourful street markets, colonial-era buildings, museums and Galleries, churches,mosques and temples, and the lovely Viharamahadevi Park with it beautiful trees, make it a great place to explore on foot.

Originally named Kolomtota, Colombo was the main seaport of Kotte, the country's 15th- and 16th-century capital. Known to Arab traders as Kalamba, the city attracted the rapacious Portuguese as early as 1505 and became the bastion of their rule for almost 150 years. Surprisingly little remains to attest to this era, apart from a scattering of Portuguese surnames in the telephone directory and a handful of Roman Catholic churches and seminaries. Nor are there many mementoes of the Dutch who expelled the Portuguese in the mid-17th century. The central area of the city is still known as Fort, but the remnants of the colonial battlements have long since been demolished, or incorporated in newer buildings. There are more mementoes of the British period, including the neo-Classical old parliament building, the Victorian-era President's House (still often called 'Queen's House'), and the grandly mercantile brick facade of Cargill's, a splendid 19th-century department store that has changed little since the 19th-century heyday of Sri Lanka's British tea planters.

Colombo Harbor
Colombo harbor The Port of Colombo was known to Roman, Arab, and Chinese traders more than 2000 years ago. By the 8th century, Arab Muslim traders settled in Colombo as a base for their trade for that part of the world. Today, they make up the local Sri Lankan Moor community
The Port of Colombo fell to the British in 1796, when they first arrived on the island. However it remained a Kandyan Kingdom military outpost until it was surrendered in 1815. The Port was made the capital of the new British crown colony called Ceylon. The British decided to build houses and civilian buildings rather than making it into a military center, giving birth to the modern Port of Colombo.
In 1865, the Municipal Council was created by the British in the Port of Colombo in an effort to teach the local population self-governance. TheColombo Municipal Council was practically the Legislative Council of Ceylon, meeting for the first time in 1866. In 1912, the Port was converted into a sheltered harbor, and the Colombo Port Commission was established in 1913. Much of the city was planned during the British occupation of the Port of Colombo.
The Port saw dramatic changes when the country gained its independence in 1948. The Queen Elizabeth Quay was opened in 1954, while 16 alongside berths, transit sheds and warehouses were completed. In 1958 The Port Corporation was founded. Sri Lanka's economy began to improve, even though it had influences of Portuguese, Dutch and British cultures while its own had been repressed.
In 2008, the port commenced a large-scale expansion project at a cost of US$1.2 billion, which is expected dramatically increase the port's capacity and capabilities.The project, which is headed by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority and built by the Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company, is expected to be completed by 11 April 2012.
The expansion project will consist of four new terminals that are 1200m in length and can accommodate 3 berths each, alongside a depth of 18 m (59 ft) (which can be deepened to 23 m (75 ft)). The channel width of the harbour is to be 560m and depth of 20m, with harbour basin depth of 18m and a 600m turning circle.Once completed, it will increase the annual container handling capacity from 4 million TEUs to approximately 12 million TEUs. It will also be able to accommodate larger container vessels, carrying around 12,000 TEUs.
The first terminal was awarded to the China Merchants Holdings (International) - Aitken Spence consortium on 16 September 2010. The new terminal is planned to be operational by First Quarter 2013.