Kandy takes its name from the Sinhala word Kanda, meaning “mountain,” an apt reflection of its hilly, inland location in central Sri Lanka. The Kingdom of Kandy, founded in the late 15th century, was the last Sinhalese kingdom to fall, resisting Portuguese and Dutch forces before finally succumbing to British colonial rule in 1818. While other kingdoms fell by the early 1600s, Kandy held out for two more centuries.