Mannar Island, formerly called Manar Island, is part of Mannar District

Mannar District

Mannar district is one of the 25 administrative districts of Sri Lanka. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a District Secretary appointed by the central government of Sri Lanka. The headquarters is located in Mannar, Sri Lanka...

, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. It is linked to the rest of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 by a causeway

Causeway

In modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by...

.It has an area of about 50 square kilometres, mainly covered with vegetation and sand.Rama's Bridge

Rama's Bridge

Adam's Bridge , also known as Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu , is a chain of limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka...

 or Rama Setu (Tamil: இராமர் பாலம் Rāmar pālam, Sanskrit: रामसेतु, rāmasetu),[1] is a chain of limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka.

Between 1914 and 1964, there was a train and ferry link from mainland India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 via Dhanushkodi and Talaimannar

Talaimannar

Talaimannar is a settlement in Sri Lanka located on the northwestern coast of Mannar Island.- Transport :Prior to the severe destructions by a cyclone in December 1964, it was the terminus of a ferry service to India across the very shallow Palk Bay...

 to Colombo

Colombo

Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...

, but this was not resumed after the disastrous damages caused by a cyclone

Cyclone

In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...

 in 1964.

The island is dry and barren; fishing is economically important.

It main settlements are Mannar

Mannar

Mannar may refer to:* Mannar, Alappuzha, a town in Alappuzha district, Kerala, India* Mannar, Kaduthuruthy,a town in Kottayam district, Kerala, India* Mannar, Sri Lanka, a town in northern Sri Lanka* Mannar District, a district in Sri Lanka...

 and Erukkulampiddi on its eastern coast and Pesalai

Pesalai

Pesalai is a primarily a fishing village situated north-west of the island of Mannar in the Mannar District of Sri Lanka. It has a population of about 8,000, 97% of which is Sri Lankan Tamil and the balance 3% Muslim. There are around 2,610 families and 7,350 persons in Pesalai, including...

on its northern coast, all connected by the A14 road which leads across the bridge to mainland Sri Lanka