Islands of Sri Lanka
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There are number of islands around Sri Lanka. The most prominent islets are east of the Jaffna Peninsula in Northern Province. These group of islands also had Dutch names during the Dutch colonial period, few of those names are still in use today.[1]
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[edit] Jaffna Peninsula
The prominent islands around the Jaffna peninsula are Analativu which is still not connected to the mainland via a causeway. Eluvativu which is a small fishing settlement. Kachchatheevu, an island that India transferred to Sri Lanka in 1974 that is still a point of contention between Sri Lanka and the Tamil Nadu state of India. Kachchativu used to be used by fishers from both Sri Lanka and India. There is a popular Catholic shrines on this island. [2] Other notable ones are Karativu , Mandativu, Nainativu which is also known as Naga Dipa in Sinhalese that is home to a Buddhist and Hindu shrines and is a renowned place of pilgrimage for both Tamil Hindus and Sinhalese Buddhists. Neduntivu also knowan as Delft in the Dutch language and is known for its native ponies. Paratitivu is an uninhabited islet that is used by local fishers for resting. Pungudutivu and Velanai known as Leiden in Dutch are two large islands that is home to most of the island population.
[edit] Mannar District
There is another set of islands that belong to Sri Lanka and form part of a sandy chain of islands known as Adams Bridge. The Sri Lankan end of the chain is a relatively large island known as Mannar Island. It is a historically important entry point of merchants from India and Arabia and embarkation point of refugees from Sri Lanka to India. There are number of other small uninhabited islets around Sri Lanka that are used for security, shipping safety and tourism purposes.
