Neduntheevu

Neduntheevu

நெடுந்தீவு

Delft
Neduntheevu நெடுந்தீவு; ; Delft
Island
	Neduntheevu
	Coordinates: 9°31′0″N 79°41′0″E / 9.51667°N 79.68333°E
Country	Sri Lanka
Province	Northern
District	Jaffna
DS Division	Delft

Neduntheevu or Nedunthivu (Tamil: நெடுந்தீவு, Sinhala: ඩෙල්ෆ්ට්) (also known by its Dutch name Delft) is an island in the Palk Strait, northern Sri Lanka. This island is named as Delft in the Admiralty Chart unlike the other islands, whose names are Tamil. The island's area is 50 km² and it is roughly oval-shaped. Its length is 8 km and its maximum width about 6 km.

Neduntheevu is a flat island surrounded by shallow waters and beaches of coral chunks and sand. It is home to a small population of Tamil people, mostly living in quiet compounds close to the northern coast.^[1] The vegetation is of a semi-arid tropical type, with palmyra palms, dry shrubs and grasses that grow on the pale grey porous coralline soil. Papayas and bananas grow close to the local people's homes. In the western coast of the island there are remains of a 1000-year-old temple^{[citation needed]} built by the Chola Dynasty,^{[citation needed]} as well as the ruins of a Dutch colonial fort. The water is slightly brackish, and it is taken from shallow wells using buckets made from palmyra palm leaves.^[2] A naval battle was fought off the coast of the island in 2008 during the Sri-Lankan Civil War. There are feral ponies on the island, descendants of forebears abandoned there in the Dutch period.

The island was named after the Dutch city of Delft by Rijckloff van Goens. He named the eight most important islands after Dutch cities.

Inscriptions

The marine archaeologists from the Maritime Archaeology Unit (MAU) of Central Cultural Fund (CCF) established in Galle in their archaeological explorations carried out in Delft Island in August 2017 have discovered two Tamil inscriptions dated to 14-15 century and one Sinhala Prakrit inscription dated to 1st century that have not been hither to revealed.^[3]

Gallery

Growing Rock, observed to be accreting
Giant footprint, also known as Adam's or Shiva's footprint
Stable remains
Wild ponies
Pigeon house (dovecote), used by colonial powers
Baobab (Adansonia digitata), native to East Africa, introduced by Arabian sailors in 7th century.
Coral walls, a common sight
Ruins believed to be an ancient temple, stupa or Vedi Arasan fort.
The Manmade Coral Walls of Delft