Beira Lake is a man-made lake in the centre of the city of Colombo in Sri Lanka. The lake is surrounded by many large businesses in the city. It initially occupied approximately 1.65 km2 (0.64 sq mi) of land 100 years ago but has since been reduced to 0.65 km2 (0.25 sq mi) today due to various reasons. During the colonial era of the Portuguese, Dutch and the English, the lake was used for a wide variety of purposes. It still retains its Portuguese name. It is connected to many intricate canals which provided an easy way of transporting goods within the city and suburban cities.