Vavuniya District was thereafter ruled by Vanniar Chieftains who paid tribute to the pre-colonial Jaffna kingdom.

Parts of Vavuniya District were under the control of rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for many years during the civil war.

The population of the district, like the rest of the north and east of Sri Lanka, has been heavily affected by the civil war.

[10] Several hundred thousand Sri Lankan Tamils, possibly as much as one million, emigrated to the West during the war.

Most of the Sri Lankan Moors and Sinhalese who lived in the district fled to other parts of Sri Lanka or were forcibly expelled by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, though most of them have returned to the district since the end of the civil war.