ABORTIVE CHENA SETTLEMENTS IN THE KÄGALLA DISTRICT

DURING THE LATE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES By Eric P. Meyer The following paper completes the previous article on Chena cultivation and its repression in Colonial Ceylon In the colonial Ceylon context, a settlement is theoretically a contractual decision arrived at between a representative of the colonial government (‘the Crown’) and a claimant, peasant or landlord, or a purchaser from them, recognizing private title to the land claimed or deciding the land to be ‘at the disposal of the C...