Sri Lanka Elsewhere, in early 1620 Senarat achieved another truce – with Mayadunne and Kuruvita Rala – by promising them the throne of Kotte instead. Only by June 1620 did the Portuguese captain-general Dom Constantino de Sá de Noronha manage to recapture the southern lowlands, for Kuruvita Rala was a skilled and popular commander and knew the territory well. A month later, Kuruvita Rala was himself ambushed and killed by the disava of Matara Dom Costantino Barreto (a Christian Sinhalese) in Panama, southeastern Sri Lanka. The departure of Mayadunne of Denawaka back to India in March 1621 brought the end of the rebellion in Kandy, and peace between the Portuguese and Kandy. Danish negotiations The second European power to establish a foothold on Sri Lanka were the Danes. In 1620, Senarat received the first expedition of the Danish East India Company led by Ove Gjedde, who reached Sri Lanka after a perilous journey of over two years, that claimed more than half its personnel. Senarat placed great expectations on a Danish alliance against the Portuguese and agreed to sign a treaty and grant them the port of Trincomalee, where the great Koneswaram temple was located. However, until the Danish could prove capable against the Portuguese, Senarat was not willing to relinquish his hard-won peace with them or grant the Danes any further concessions. Thus, just two weeks after the treaty was signed, the Danish evacuated Trincomalee and left for Tranquebar in Tanjore, where they established a fort. Dutch involvement (1638–1658) The kingdoms of Spain and Portugal had been in dynastic union under the Spanish Habsburgs since a Portuguese succession crisis in 1580. This Iberian Union possessed a vast empire of colonial possessions, but lacked the strength (particularly naval forces) to defend them. Other colonial powers sought to take advantage of this weakness to obtain their own empires, particularly after the collapse of the Iberian economy in 1627. The Spanish overseas possessions were generally better defended than Portuguese ones, which were widely scattered and difficult to reinforce. The rival Dutch Empire – engaged in the Eighty Years' War against its former master, Spain – concentrated its overseas efforts on conquering parts of the Portuguese Empire in the Dutch–Portuguese War. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) sought to oust the Portuguese from the East Indies and Indian subcontinent so they could control the lucrative spice trade. Seeing an opportunity to undermine the