The Adaptable Peasant: Agrarian Society in Western Sri Lanka Under Dutch Rule, 1740-1800 (Tanap Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction)

This study investigates the structural changes in western Sri Lanka's agrarian society under the administration of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). In the areas where peasant agriculture was the predominant form of production, changes in the land tenure system paved the way for a modern system of private property relations. A new class differentiation emerged and the indigenous chiefs turned into powerful landowners. In addition to this, new light is shed on the dynamics of caste formation as a result of the early colonial encounter. Analyses how in early colonial times, the peasant society of Sri Lanka underwent fundamental changes in the land tenure system as it faced the arrival of the Dutch East India Company administration's merchant capitalism. This study also reveals the dynamics of caste formation as a result of the early colonial encounter "This study investigates the structural changes in western Sri Lanka's agrarian society under the administration of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). New light is shed on the dynamics of caste formation as a result of the early colonial encounter."--BOOK JACKET