Where are the Maldives?
The Maldives is an independent island country in the north-central Indian Ocean. The islands that make up the country extend more than 510 miles (8...
When was the Maldives a British protectorate?
After the British took possession of Ceylon in 1796, the Maldives became a British protectorate, a status formalized in 1887. In 1965 the Maldives...
What is the average temperature in the Maldives?
The average annual temperature in the Maldives varies from 76°F to 86°F (24 to 30 °C). The rainy season is from May to August, and from December to...
What is the official language of the Maldives?
The official language of Maldives is an Indo-European language called Dhivehi (Maldivian). Arabic, Hindi, and English are also commonly spoken.
Do you have to be a Muslim to become a citizen of the Maldives?
The 2008 constitution established Islam as the official state religion of the Maldives. Non-Muslims cannot become citizens, and the People's Majlis...
Where is the Maldives?
Maldives, in full Republic of Maldives, also called Maldive Islands, independent island country in the north-central Indian Ocean. It consists of a chain of about 1,200 small coral islands and sandbanks (some 200 of which are inhabited), grouped in clusters, or atolls. Island resort in the Maldives, north-central Indian Ocean.
What are the Maldive Islands?
The Maldive Islands are a series of coral atolls built up from the crowns of a submerged ancient volcanic mountain range. All the islands are low-lying, none rising to more than 6 feet (1.8 metres) above sea level. Barrier reefs protect the islands from the destructive effects of monsoons. The rainy season, from May to August, is brought by the southwest monsoon; from December to March the northeast monsoon brings dry and mild winds. The average annual temperature varies from 76 to 86 °F (24 to 30 °C). Rainfall averages about 84 inches (2,130 mm) per year. The atolls have sandy beaches, lagoons, and a luxuriant growth of coconut palms, together with breadfruit trees and tropical bushes. Fish abound in the reefs, lagoons, and seas adjoining the islands; sea turtles are caught for food and for their oil, a traditional medicine.
What is the language of the Maldives?
Traders from Arab countries, Malaya, Madagascar, Indonesia, and China visited the islands through the centuries. The official language is an Indo-European language called Dhivehi (or Maldivian); Arabic, Hindi, and English are also spoken. Islam is the state religion.
What are the industries in the Maldives?
Industries are largely of the handicraft or cottage type, including the making of coir (coconut-husk fibre) and coir products, fish canning, and boatbuilding. Textile and garment manufacturing was among the more lucrative industries from the mid-1990s until the 2005 expiry of an import quota regime in international textile trade left factories in the Maldives unable to compete. Construction makes up the bulk of the industrial sector.
What is the Maldives economy?
Since the 1970s the economy of the Maldives has developed rapidly. Annual growth of gross domestic product (GDP) has been high, averaging about 6 percent in the 2010s, and the gross national income (GNI) per capita—among the lowest in the world in the 1970s—reached the level of upper middle-income countries by the late 2010s. The economy is based on tourism, fishing, boatbuilding, and boat repairing, with the tourism sector driving the rapid growth.
What are the main trade partners of the Maldives?
Fish—mostly dried, frozen, or canned skipjack tuna—accounts for the bulk of exports. China, India, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Singapore are among the main trading partners.
How long is the Maldives' term?
The head of state and government is the president, assisted by a vice president and a cabinet. The president and vice president are directly elected by universal suffrage to a maximum of two five-year terms.
What is the Maldives?
Archipelago. Maldives is an archipelago of islands. Archipelago means chain of atolls. The Maldives archipelago is made up of 26 natural atolls stretched over 90000 square kilometer in the sea which is filled with hundreds of tiny coral islands, reefs and marine lives.
How many islands are there in Maldives?
Maldives is a low lying island country in the Indian Ocean, it is 717 km from Sri Lanka and 430 km from India. There are 1192 islands which are dispersed over an area of 90000 square kilometers southwest of Sri Lanka.
What are the two main types of coral reefs in the Maldives?
Tiny coral islands of the Maldives are protected by two major types of reefs; house reef and outer reef. There are islands that have lagoon fading into the blue ocean without any barrier in between. Other islands have house reef where lagoon meets deep sea. The house reef protects lagoon and the beach of the island from waves and ocean current. In some parts this natural protection comes to the atoll as whole, providing a coral boundary that protects all islands within it. Such an example is Meemu Atoll.
How many natural atolls are there in the world?
There are 26 natural atolls which are officially recognized as 20 for administrative purposes. Not all atolls are of same size or hold same number of islands, it is based on geographical grouping. Some atolls are huge with hundreds of islands and the atoll of Gnaviyani is based on only 1 island.
Is the Maldives earthquake prone?
Despite millions of years old volcanoes the Maldives is not prone to earthquakes. Meteorological Department at times reported some earthquakes in the Maldives region but it was too minor for people to feel anything. Share.
Is Maldives a lagoon?
Every island is individual and separate from other islands, there is a lagoon or sea in between the islands. Islands of Maldives are beautiful with white sandy beaches and clear water seas that fade away into the deep ocean blue. These are coral islands, in many islands the sand are soft and fine, in some other islands they are rocky ...
Do all islands have sand?
These are coral islands, in many islands the sand are soft and fine, in some other islands they are rocky and difficult to walk barefoot. Almost all islands have at least a part of the beach that has fine sand. Resorts are mainly developed in islands that have good quality beach and rich sea life.
Where is Maldives?
It is located about 700 km (430 mi) off the coast of mainland Asia and to the southwest of India. The islands of Maldives straddles the Equator with parts of the country lying in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres of the Earth.
Which hemisphere is Maldives in?
The islands of Maldives straddles the Equator with parts of the country lying in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres of the Earth. Regional Maps: Map of Asia.
How many atolls are there in the Maldives?
Maldives can be divided into 21 administrative atolls (atholhuthah, singular - atholhu). In alphabetical order, they are as follows:
What is the largest island in Maldives?
This ridge rises from the bed of the ocean and runs for 960 km (600 mi) in the north-south directions. The atolls are composed of sand bars and live coral reefs. Gan is the country's largest island and is located in the Laamu Atoll.
What is the smallest country in Asia?
Flag. Maldives is an archipelagic nation with a total land area of 298 sq. km in the Indian Ocean. It is Asia's smallest country. Here, over 1,110 islands are grouped into a double chain of 26 atolls. The islands of the country are dispersed across about 90,000 sq. km of the ocean.
How tall is Wilingili Island?
The topography of each of the islands vary from mostly sand to marshy wetlands. Its highest point, an unnamed point on Wilingili Island, is only 7.87 ft. (2.4 m); while its lowest is the Indian Ocean (0 m).
What is the name of the country in the Arabian Sea?
A stretch of islands and atolls of various sizes in the Arabian Sea portion of the Indian Ocean comprise the country of Maldives. The outline map above represents this island nation.
Where is the Maldives located?
It lies southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) from the Asian continent's mainland.
What is the climate of the Maldives?
The Maldives has a tropical monsoon climate (Am) under the Köppen climate classification, which is affected by the large landmass of South Asia to the north. Because the Maldives has the lowest elevation of any country in the world, the temperature is constantly hot and often humid. The presence of this landmass causes differential heating of land and water. These factors set off a rush of moisture-rich air from the Indian Ocean over South Asia, resulting in the southwest monsoon. Two seasons dominate Maldives' weather: the dry season associated with the winter northeastern monsoon and the rainy season associated with the southwest monsoon which brings strong winds and storms.
What are the environmental issues in the Maldives?
Environmental issues other than sea level rise include bad waste disposal and beach theft. Although the Maldives are kept relatively pristine and little litter can be found on the islands, no good waste disposal sites exist. Most trash from Malé and other resorts is simply dumped at Thilafushi.
How to travel between islands in Maldives?
In Maldives, there are three main ways to travel between islands: by domestic flight, by seaplane, or by boat. For several years there were two seaplane companies operating: TMA ( Trans Maldivian Airways) and Maldivian Air Taxi, but these merged in 2013 under the name TMA.
What is the largest island in the Maldives?
The largest island of Maldives is that of Gan, which belongs to Laamu Atoll or Hahdhummathi Maldives. In Addu Atoll, the westernmost islands are connected by roads over the reef (collectively called Link Road) and the total length of the road is 14 km (9 mi).
How many people live in Maldives?
Comprising a territory spanning roughly 298 square kilometres (115 sq mi), Maldives is one of the world's most geographically dispersed sovereign states as well as the smallest Asian country by land area and, with around 557,426 inhabitants, the 2nd least populous country in Asia.
What is the main economic activity in the Maldives?
Fishing has historically been the dominant economic activity, and remains the largest sector by far, followed by the rapidly growing tourism industry. Maldives rate "high" on the Human Development Index, with per-capita income significantly higher than other SAARC nations.
What is the landscape of the Maldives?
The landscape of the Maldives consists of numerous atolls – circle-shaped coral reefs with a lagoon in the middle. In geological time scales these are the youngest formations on earth. A theory for the derivation of the atolls is that corals started to grow on a volcanic underwater mountain range until they were close to the surface. The water in between these atolls is only up to a few hundred meters deep, whereas a depths of up to 4,000 m can be reached outside the Maldivian area.
What is the religion of the Maldives?
The state religion in the Maldives is the Sunnite Islam. There is no freedom of religion and it is not allowed to publicly practice other religions.
Overview
See also Atolls of the Maldives for an in-depth description of the atolls.
Maldives is an island country in the Indian Ocean, South Asia, south-southwest of India. It has a total land size of 298 km (115 sq mi) which makes it the smallest country in Asia. It consists of approximately 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls, spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometers, makin…
Physical geography
Most atolls of the Maldives consist of a large, ring-shaped coral reef supporting numerous small islands. Islands average only one to two square kilometers in area, and lie between 1–1.5 m (3 ft 3 in – 4 ft 11 in) above mean sea level. Although some of the larger atolls are approximately 50 km (31 mi) long from north to south, and 30 km (19 mi) wide from east to west, no individual island i…
Climate
The temperature of Maldives ranges between 24 and 33 °C (75.2 and 91.4 °F) throughout the year. Although the humidity is relatively high, the constant sea breezes help to keep the air moving. Two seasons dominate Maldives' weather: the dry season associated with the winter northeast monsoon and the rainy season brought by the summer southwest monsoon. Because the Maldives is …
Area and boundaries
Area: total: 298 square kilometres (115.1 square miles) land: 298 km water: 0 km
Coastline: 644 kilometres (400 mi)
Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines territorial sea: 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometres; 13.8 miles) contiguous zone: 24 nmi (44.4 k…
Resources and land use
Natural resources: fish
Land use: arable land: 10% permanent crops: 10% other: 80% (2011)
Irrigated land: 0 km (2003)
Total renewable water resources: 0.03 km (2011)
Environmental concerns
Natural hazards: tsunamis; low level of islands makes them very sensitive to sea level rise. Some scientists fear it could be underwater by 2050 or 2100. The UN's environmental panel has warned that, at current rates, sea level would be high enough to make the country uninhabitable by 2100. President Mohamed Nasheed aims to turn the Maldives into an entirely carbon neutral nation by 2020.
Statistics
• Position: degree of latitude: 07° 06'30" N to 00° 41'48" S and degree of longitude: 72° 32'30" E to 73° 45'54" E westside of India and Sri Lanka.
• Range: in length approx. 750 km (from north to south) / in width approx. 120 km (from west to east)
• Land territory: 1,196 mostly deserted islands with a total area of approx. 298 km .
Nearest nation
• India (Laccadives)