All about the Maldives
Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, about four hundred miles south-west of Sri Lanka. The twenty-six atolls encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, roughly two hundred of which are inhabited by people. The country’s name may stand for “Mountain Islands” (malai in Tamil, meaning “mountain” and dtivu in Tamil meaning “island”) or it might mean “a thousand islands”. Following the introduction of Islam in 1153, the islands later became a Portuguese (1558), Dutch (1654), and then British (1887) colonial possession. In 1965, Maldives declared its independence from Britain, and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic. In 38 years, the Maldives have had two Presidents.
Tourism and fishing are now being developed on the archipelago and form the two key components of Maldivian economy. The country’s shipping, banking and manufacturing sectors are also growing at a considerable pace. Among the South Asian nations, Maldives has the second highest per-capita GDP at 3,900 USD (2002 figure). Major trading partners include India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
On 26 December 2004 the Maldives were devastated by a tsunami following an earthquake in the Indian Ocean. The absence of land mass against which waves could be built up reduced the destructive impact, preventing the waves from reaching much more than 1.5 meters in height. Despite this, the archipelago’s low lying nature (one of the lowest lying countries on Earth) meant that nearly all of the country was swamped. At least seventy-five people perished, including six foreigners. Many others were left homeless. Following the disaster, cartographers are planning to redraw the maps of the islands due to alterations by the tsunami. The people and government are worried that Maldives could be wiped from the map eventually since Maldives holds the record for being the flattest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only 2.3 m, though in areas where construction exists this has been increased to several metres. Over the last century, sea levels have risen about twenty centimeters. The ocean is likely to continue rising and this threatens the existence of Maldives.
