Baldeus

Father Philippus Baldeus was a Dutch priest. He went to Jaffna, Ceylon with an invading Dutch force during 17th Century. He documented the life and culture of Tamil people who lived in Jaffna at that time.

The Tamils and the Kandyan Kingdom collaborated and conspired with the Dutch rulers of Batavia( today's Jakarta in Indonesia). The Dutch invasion from Batavia brought religious freedom for Tamils and Muslims.The Dutch and the later colonial English ruler reigned approximately 3 centuries in length with each ruling for approximately 150 years. The Jaffna Tamil has several Portuguese and Dutch words still in usage.

The islands of Palk Straits are renamed during Dutch rule in Dutch as Leiden, Kayts and other cities of the Netherlands. Dutch priest Rev Philippus Baldeus has written a great historical record similar to Mahawamsa on the Jaffna people and their culture and it was immediately published in Dutch and German with several beautiful pictures. Still at the Point Pedro Market Square a granite stone inscription marks the place where Rev Baldeus has preached to the Tamils under a big tamarind tree. This tamarind tree was uprooted during the cyclone of 1963.