The
Vannimai, or
Vanni chieftaincies, were
feudal land divisions ruled by chiefs south of the
Jaffna peninsula in northern
Sri Lanka. These chieftaincies arose in the 12th century, with the rise of the medieval Tamil kingdom's golden age and the collapse of the
Rajarata kingdom. The chieftaincies developed in sparsely settled areas, and were ruled by
Vanniars. An extension of the
Jaffna kingdom's territory, the chiefs of the Vannimais were, for most of their existence, tribute-paying subordinates to Jaffna. At 1621, the Jaffna Kingdom was conquered by the Portuguese and the Vanni chiefs became tributaries of the
Portuguese Ceylon. The Portuguese colony in
Sri Lanka was later taken over by the Dutch. During the Dutch rule it came to Vannian resistances against the colonial rule, one of these was the rebellion of
Pandara Vanniyan. Allied with the
Kingdom of Kandy,
Pandara Vanniyan fought with guerrilla tactics against the Dutch and British. At 1803, he was defeated by
Lt. von Driberg and
Vanni fell into hands of the
British.
Vanni had been reincorporated with
Jaffna Peninsula to form the Malabar Coylot Vanni country which later became the
Northern Province of Sri Lanka.