Colombo

largest city and de facto capital of Sri Lanka

14 dated entries naming Colombo, drawn from 13 separate years between 1505 CE and 2019 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

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16th century

1505November 15 – Portuguese explorer Lourenço de Almeida and his fleet encounter a storm and are driven to the island of Sri Lanka and travels to Colombo. The King of Kotte, Dharma Parakramabahu IX, allows Almeida to build a trade station and a Roman Catholic chapel.source
1588February 18 – In modern-day Sri Lanka, the siege of Colombo by King Rajasinha I of Sitawaka ends when Portuguese Admiral Pedro Teixeira arrives with a fleet of 80 ships and frees the capital of Portuguese Ceylon. King Rajasinha and his troops flee back to his capital at Seethawakapura.source
1596July 14 – King Dominicus Corea (Edirille Bandara) is beheaded by the Portuguese in Colombo, Ceylon.source

17th century

1656May 12 – The Dutch capture the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, marking the start of Netherlands colonial rule of Dutch Ceylon.source

18th century

1796February 15 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Invasion of Ceylon (1795) ends when Johan van Angelbeek, the Batavian governor of Ceylon, surrenders Colombo peacefully to British forces.source

19th century

1815Construction of St. Thomas' Church, the first Anglican church in Sri Lanka, commences in Kotahena, Colombo.source

20th century

1921July 21 – Edward Harper, the "father of broadcasting" in Ceylon, arrives in Colombo to take up his post as Chief Engineer of the Ceylon Telegraph Department.source
1942April 5 – WWII: Easter Sunday Raid – Aircraft of the Imperial Japanese Navy attack Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.source
198428 January – A bomb explodes in Hotel Lanka Oberoi in Colombo. One employee is killed.source
1987April 21 – In Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Central Bus Station Bombing kills 113 civilians.source
198729 July – The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord is signed in Colombo between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President J. R. Jayewardene, thus bringing an end to the first phase of the Sri Lankan Civil War.source
1991The South Asian Games are held in Colombo.source
1996January 31 – Colombo Central Bank bombing: an explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing at least 86 people and injuring 1,400.source

21st century

2019April 21 – A series of Islamist bomb attacks occur at eight locations in Sri Lanka, including three churches, four hotels and one housing complex in Colombo, on Easter Sunday, leaving 259 people dead and over 500 injured. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in the country since the Sri Lankan Civil War ended in 2009.source