State · 1640 – 1796

Dutch Ceylon

A state of 1640 – 1796 — 156 years in East and Southeast Asia. Its line of rulers holds 2 people.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 156 years; 1640 – 1796
Rulers: 2; the Governor
Most ground: 44,300 km²; in 1687

Map: Dutch Ceylon in 1687, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Dutch Ceylon in 1687, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 44,300 km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Dutch Ceylon in 1687, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Dutch Ceylon in 1769, last mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold.

Rulers

Read from the state’s own English article and its rulers’ articles, where Wikidata names no ruler.

ending not on record

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Willem Jacobszoon Coster	1640 – 1640	under a year	ending not on record
Johan Van Angelbeek	1794 – 1796	2 years	ending not on record

2 rulers, 2 with terms dated as terms, covering 1640 – 1796. Median reign 1 years. 0 of 1 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

44,300 km² in 1690, 29,000 km² in 1790; at its largest 44,300 km² in 1690. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood156 years
stood longer than 56% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held44,300 km²
held more ground at its peak than 33% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per centurynone
had more wars on record per century than 44% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median2 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 5% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record2
has more rulers on record than 34% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 0 causes the record names and 1 result, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

in the article

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Dynastic cycle and the decay of group feeling
Ibn Khaldun 1377 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: the condition it names held here, and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- the state 90 to 160 years old — ageBand 156

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1624 – 1812, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1687, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q1841483 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.