This study examines the colonial intervention in Sri Lanka at the end of the eighteenth century, when British rule replaced Dutch rule on the island. It focuses on the local reforms in the Dutch administration and policymaking on the island prior to the take-over and the various ways in which the British colonial government dealt with the Dutch legacy. Native agency in the colonial state formation process, the influence of the revolutions that swayed Europe at the time and changes in Dutch and British colonial exploitation are addressed respectively in an effort to characterize the transition of colonial regimes in Asia during this revolutionary era.