Hamilton Canal
An incident that led to the canal being baptized as Hamilton’s folly or the fool’s canal. Contradictory to popular belief Hamilton Canal was not a creation of the King of Kotte nor the Dutch but was a later addition by Garvin Hamilton, British Agent of Revenue and Commerce in 1802, who constructed a new canal to the east of the canals created by Sinhalese king and the Dutch.
The canal was designed to connect the Dutch canal by a series of parallel canals and was designed to drain the already damaged Muturajawela but caused the opposite to occur as the high tide brought salinity not only from Negambo lagoon but also from the Kelani river.
The canal was designed to connect the Dutch canal by a series of parallel canals and was designed to drain the already damaged Muturajawela but caused the opposite to occur as the high tide brought salinity not only from Negambo lagoon but also from the Kelani river.
