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Colonial Sri Lanka was not simply called Ceylon, that is the British name for colonial Sri Lanka. Zeylan is the Dutch name for the territory occupied or colonized in Sri Lanka in the time of the Dutch period in Ceylon. The name Ceylon is derived from Zeylan.[1]--Blackknight12 (talk) 06:43, 26 November 2009 (UTC)Reply
1692 Dutch map of Ceylon
I doubt this very much. Your reference does not say this specifically, and basically all Dutch texts from the colonial time refer to Sri Lanka as "Ceylon". For starters compare a google search with "Eyland Ceylon" and "Eyland Zeylan" (Eyland and Eylandt being the most common 17th-century spelling of modern "eiland" (island)). In 1726 François Valentijn wrote: "De Naam van dit Eyland: Dit Eyland nu werd van ons Ceylon (van zommige ook Seylaan, en Zeylan) van de Persiaanen en Arabiers Serindib, of ook wel Serandib, Serandive en Selandive ('t geen 't Eyland Ceylon beteekend, alzoo't woordje Dive een Eijland te kennen geeft)." Translated: "The name of this island: This island now was called by us Ceylon (by some also Seylaan and Zeylan), by the Persians and Arabs Serindib, or also Serandib, Serandive and Selandive (which means "the Island Ceylon", as the word Dive indicates an island)". Joan Blaeu's maps in his 1663 Atlas Major show either "Ceilon" or "Ceylon". Doncker's 1660 mariner's map shown on this website is a map of "Ceylon voordesen (previously) Taprobana". The 1692 Dutch map shown to the right has as title Het Koninckryck Conde Uda of Ceylon ("the kingdom of Conde Uda or Ceylon").
More to the point, the governors were employees of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). As far as I can see none of the 17th and 18th century VOC documents speak of Zeijlan. Check out the database of VOC documents for your self: there are no titles with Zeylan, Zeijlan, Zeilan, Ceilan, Ceylan, Seylan or Seilan, 3 title with Zeijlon, 5 titles with Seijlon, and many, many of Ceylon, Ceijlon, or Ceilon.
