The Vanni, also spelled Wanni, is the name given to the mainland area of the Northern Province of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It covers the entirety of Mannar, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya Districts, and most of

Kilinochchi District Kilinochchi District ( ''Kiḷinocci Māvaṭṭam''; ) is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary (previo ...

. It has an area of approximately . The population and infrastructure of the Vanni were devastated by the Sri Lankan Civil War.

History

Tamil feudal chiefs called Vanniar chiefs who have their origin here cultivated the Vanni in the

first millennium File:1st millennium montage.png, From top left, clockwise: Depiction of Jesus, the central figure in Christianity; The Colosseum, a landmark of the once-mighty Roman Empire; Kaaba, the Great Mosque of Mecca, the holiest site of Islam; Chess, a ne ...

of the

Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the ...

governing what were called

Vannimai The Vanni chieftaincies or Vanni tribes was a region between Anuradhapura and Jaffna, but also extending to along the eastern coast to Panama and Yala, during the Transitional and Kandyan periods of Sri Lanka. The heavily forested land was a c ...

, the

Jaffna Kingdom The Jaffna kingdom (, ; 1215–1619 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna peninsula and was traditionally t ...

's land divisions located south of the Jaffna Peninsula in the present-day Northern, North Central and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.

Geography

Geographically, the Vanni is distinct from the Jaffna Peninsula, the other area of the Northern Province. Jaffna peninsula is irrigated by underground

aquifers An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing material, consisting of permeability (Earth sciences), permeable or fractured rock, or of unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). Aquifers vary greatly in their characteristics. The s ...

fed by wells whereas the Vanni has irrigation tanks fed by

perennial river A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s. Major rivers include: Akkarayan Aru, Aruvi Aru, Kanakarayan Aru, Kodalikkallu Aru, Mandekal Aru, two called Nay Aru, Netheli Aru, Pali Aru, Pallavarayankaddu Aru, Parangi Aru, Per Aru, Piramenthal Aru, Theravil Aru. There are also a number of

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s around the Vanni, the largest being Jaffna Lagoon, Nanthi Kadal, Chundikkulam Lagoon, Kokkilai Lagoon, Nai Aru Lagoon and Chalai Lagoon. Much of the interior (approximately ) of the Vanni is covered by dense

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

Demographics

The Vanni had a population of nearly 700,000 in 2007, making it one of the most sparsely populated areas of Sri Lanka. However, the area's population figures have been highly volatile due to massive displacement caused by the Sri Lankan Civil War.

External links

A closer look at southern part of the Vanni
{{Sri Lankan Tamil people Geography of Kilinochchi District Geography of Mannar District Geography of Mullaitivu District Geography of Vavuniya District