A Map of Sri Lanka - Please note Jaffna, Vavunia, Mannar, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Batticalova, Kandy & Yala

Between the Jaffna Kingdom and the Sinhalese kingdoms lay the Vanni chieftancies which were collectively a  buffer between the first and the second. Their emergence was the direct result of the breakdown of central authority following upon the collapse of the Polonnaruwa Kingdom in the 13th Century. Dispossessed Sinhalese nobels, as well as South Indian military chiefs in Magha's army, were able to establish control over parts of the Vanni in the dry zone. The Sinhalese chieftaincies of the Vanni lay on the nothern boarders of the Sinhalese kingdom, while their Tamil counterparts controlled the areas immediately bordering the nothern kingdom and the remoter areas of the eastern littoral outside the control of the two major kingdoms. In their own territories, the Vanni chieftains functioned very much like feudal lords, offering military protection, at a time of great political instability, to those who came under their authority, and they owed allegiance to one or other of the two major kingdoms, depending on the political situation - which during much of the late 14th and early 15th centuries, could often mean an accomodation with the Tamil Kingdom. The fact is that most of what is today the Eastern Province lay beyond the effective control of the Jaffna Kingdom, and was not part of it.

The Jaffna Kingdom survived, beleaguered and more vulnerable to " force majeure " than others, till the early years of the 17th Century when it succumbed to the Portuguese and was never to recover its independence again. At the time of its conquest by the Portuguese, it controlled the Jaffna peninsula and its periphery, thus reduced in size to what it had been prior to its rapid and brief expansion in the early part of the 15th Century.

The Portuguese under Don Lorenzo de Almeida arrived in Sri Lanka on 15th November 1505. From the early 16th Century internal conflicts and disunity in the royal family led to the disintegration of the Sinhala dynasty. The Portuguese who embarked on a career of conquest ravaged and plundered the coastal areas.   

According to the " Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon " by the 16th Portuguese Historian De Queyros ( Book 1; page 101 ) when the Portuguese first came to the island in 1505 AD it was divided into 5 sub-kingdoms; " that of Cota ( Kotte ) to which all others were tributary ( subordinate ) acknowledging the King as Emperor ". One such Sub-Kingdom with a Sub-Ruler was Jaffnapatnam. However, what is significant is that not one single inch of the present day Eastern Province belonged to this Sub Kingdom of Jaffnapatnam. Further, according to De Queros ( page 754 ) " the Portuguese expelled the Moors from their territories in 1626. Senarat, King of Kandy settled them in his Kingdom; 4000 were settled in Batticaloa alone by the Idolatrous King " ( much worshipped or most venerated ). This was the origin of the large Muslim ( Mukkuwa ) population in the Eastern Province.
    
Sinhala King " Rajasinghe II " sought help from the Dutch to get rid of the Portuguese and finally the Portuguese capitulated in 1656.

The Dutch replaced the Portuguese in 1658 as European Power in Jaffna. Even upto that time, the Eastern Province had never been a part of Tamil Kingdom. Prof. S. Arsarathnam, a Tamil Historian, in his study on " The Kingdom of Kandy; Aspects of Its External Relations and Commerce; 1658 - 1710 ", says; " the Kandyan kings had on the West Coast, Trincomalee, Kottiyar and Batticaloa. Each of these ports served as the entrepot of seperate areas of the Kandyan Kingdom ". 

This is further borne out by the fact that " Robert Knox ", an Englishman was captured by the soldiers of the King of Kandy at Kottiyar Bay in Trincomalee in 1660 AD as related by him in his famous book, " An Historical Relation of Ceylon ". He has described Sri Lanka as the land of the Sinhalese Buddhists from time immemorial and the religious fervour and patriotic feelings of the Sinhalese Buddhists, as most remarkable. Strangely enough he has not spoken about any Tamil Hindu civilization or for that matter any Tamil settlements in the " King's Territories ".

The Dutch Governer, Ryckloff Van Goens has reported to the Dutch Authorities in 1663 that " the country between " Waluwe " ( River Walawe in the deep South ) and " Trinquenemale " ( Trincomalee in the North East ) mostly stretches East and South East as far as " Jale " ( Yala National Park ) and turns to the North and North East upto Trinquenemale. I have not been able to visit this District as it is entirely inhabited by the King's people". So, there is no question of the Eastern Province ever having been part of an independent Tamil Kingdom. It has always remained ( for 2500 years ) a part and parcel of Sinhalese territory.  


Phillipus Baldaeus, a Dutch missionary accompanied the Dutch forces which took the Principality of Jaffnapatnam in 1658. He lived and worked there as a missionery for 08 years till 1658. We are indeed fortunate to have an accurate and detailed description complete with a map of Jaffnapatnam by Baldaeus. He says " Jaffnapatnam is divided into four provinces and is very thickly inhabited ".  The four provinces were Beligamuwe ( Weligamm during time of Sinhala Kings and now Valikaman ); Tenmarachi ( now Tenamarachi ); Waddemarache ( now Vadamarachi ) and Patchiarapalle ( now Pachchirapalli ). In addition, " the adjacent isles " and the " island of Mannar " belong to the Kingdom of Jaffnapatnam. That was all. The Vanni ( save a strip along the Nothern and North Western Coast ) i.e., modern mainland Mannar district; most of Kilinochchi district, Vavunia district as well as Mulaitivu District and the whole of the present day Eastern Province were parts of the dominions of the Sinhala Kings. Incidentally, " Jaffnapatnam " is derived from the Sinhalese name " Yapa Patuna: " Yapa meaning high ranking official and " Patuna " an entrepot. According to Phillipus Baldaeus, the King of Kandy at the time; " Rajasinghe " styled himself as Emperor of Ceylon, King of Kandy, Kotte, Sitawaka, Dambadeniya, Anuradhapura, Jaffnapatnam........ etc ". 

Another mission that landed in Trincomalee was that of the French Admiral de La Haige in March 1672. Captain Nunclair de Lanerolle was sent on mission to Kandy by the French Admiral. The Venerable Joseph Vaz considered to be the Apostle of Sri Lanka by the Catholics; who travelled widely in the Eastern Province has clearly stated that in the Eastern seaboard only the Forts were held by the Dutch and the rest of the area was Kandyan Sinhalese land.