Editing Colombo (section)

===British era===

[[File:Map of Colombo (Baedeker, 1914).jpg|thumb|left|Map of Colombo, c. 1914]]

Although the British captured Colombo in 1796, it remained a [[British Armed Forces|British military]] outpost until the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to them in 1815 and they made Colombo the capital of their newly created [[British overseas territories|crown colony]] of [[British Ceylon]]. Unlike the Portuguese and Dutch before them, whose primary use of Colombo was as a military fort, the British began constructing houses and other civilian structures around the fort, giving rise to the current City of Colombo.<ref name="HoC"/>

Initially, they placed the administration of the city under a "[[District collector|Collector]]", and John Macdowell of the [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] Service was the first to hold the office. Then, in 1833, the [[Government Agent (Sri Lanka)|Government Agent]] of the Western Province was charged with the administration of the city. Centuries of [[Colonialism|colonial rule]] had meant a decline of indigenous administration of Colombo and in 1865 the British conceived a Municipal Council as a means of training the local population in [[self-governance]]. The [[Legislative Council of Ceylon]] constituted the Colombo Municipal Council in 1865 and the Council met for the first time on 16 January 1866. At the time, the population of the region was around 80,000.<ref name="HoC"/>

During the time they were in control of Colombo, the British were responsible for much of the planning of the present city. In some parts of the city, [[tram]] car tracks and granite flooring laid during the era are still visible today.<ref name="cs3"/><ref name="cs5">{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/11.htm |title=European Encroachment and Dominance: The British Replace the Dutch |access-date=2006-12-02 |work=Sri Lanka: A Country study |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061005225028/http://countrystudies.us/sri-lanka/11.htm |archive-date=2006-10-05 |url-status=live }}</ref>