The islands have long shared history with the Indian subcontinent, particularly Sri Lanka. The Dhivehi language is closely related to Sinhalese, and the Maldivians became Buddhists around the era of the Mauryans (3rd century BCE). The Maldives mainly traded cowries, a legal tender among peoples of the Indian subcontinent.
In the 12th century, the Maldives was converted to Islam during the reign of Dhovemi, who took the title of sultan. The conversion was attributed to a certain Abu Barakat al Barbari. For some time, it was assumed that this fellow came from North Africa, but today's historians agree that "Barbari" didn't refer to Berbers, but rather to the coast of Barbara
in the Horn of Africa, present-day Somalia. The new religion gained traction very quickly and today the Maldivians are devout adherents of Islam; being Muslim is a legal certification for Maldivian citizenship, therefore, freedom of religion is basically nonexistent.
During the colonial era, the Maldives was occupied by three different European states. In the mid-15th century, it was ruled by Portugal (which at the time also controlled Sri Lanka). Then in the 17th century, the Dutch held the islands for four months. By the 19th century, it had fallen, along with most of the rest of the Indian subcontinent, under the control of The British Empire, who turned the islands into a protectorate, administered from Sri Lanka. Throughout these centuries, the Sultan still technically ruled the islands (a situation similar to India's Princely States).
The British started the process of decolonization in the late 1950s, though it signed an agreement to lease the southern atolls for its Royal Air Force base. This was challenged by Ibrahim Nasir, the prime minister elected in 1957, who increased levies so the British would be tempted to leave earlier. Since the southern atolls benefited from the British presence, they declared rebellion and seceded to form the United Suvadive Republic. Unfortunately for them, the British chose to support the central government, and the republic fell in 1963. The islands became an independent Kingdom in 1965, with Muhammad Fareed Didi, the last Sultan, deciding to style himself as "King" upon independence. In 1968, the monarchy was abolished and the islands became a republic. The British left the country for good in 1976. It remains a member of The Commonwealth of Nations, though it briefly left the organization from 2016 to 2020.
From 1968 to 1978, the Maldives was led by Nasir, who instituted a slew of modernization efforts, including a controversial and ultimately failed attempt to change the traditional script to Latin, and the popularization of the country's tourism sector. He was followed by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled unopposed for the next 30 years. His presidency saw the Nasir loyalists attempting to overthrow him three times, including a failed 1988 coup that involved the Tamil insurgents from Sri Lanka. After a series of protests throughout the later years of his tenure, he bowed to the people's wills and introduced proper democracy in 2008.
The president from 2013 to 2018 was Abdulla Yameen, Gayoom's half-brother. He was elected after protests that saw the controversial resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed in 2010. Yameen was a strongman accused of jailing political opponents (including Gayoom) and bringing the country closer to China, which many feared would put it into a debt trap with its Belt and Road initiative. He was surprisingly unseated in the 2018 election by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who has started to investigate his predecessor for corruption and rights abuses. Solih's accession was a major sigh of relief for India, since it perceives him as friendlier to its interests in the face of neighbors who are increasingly turning their backs against it.
Thaana, the script used to write Dhivehi, looks very strange when compared to other scripts used in the Indian subcontinent. Actually, it's because it's not derived from any kind of Brahmi script, at least not those that are used for alphabets. Instead, (modified) Hindu-Arabic numerals, of all things, serve as its inspiration, complemented by Arabic diacritics to indicate sounds. It is thought that Thaana was originally a secret script known only to select people (its first documented use was as a medium to write magical incantations). Before the 19th century, Maldivians did use a Brahmi script called Dhives Akuru to write their language.
Maldives has the lowest high-point of any country on earth – eight feet (just over two meters) above sea level. Considering that sea levels are expected to rise a significant amount over the next century, by 2100 there may not be a Maldives. This has led the government to be an active participant in climate change discussions, and to commit to becoming carbon-neutral by 2019. Also, since 1991, the country has been building artificial islands. The first was intended to serve as a landfill for Malé's growing population. Others have been built both to provide more space for tourism and serve as refuges for the population if/when sea levels rise enough to require mass evacuations. Probably the most notable of these islands is Hulhumalé, located just to the north of the capital. Construction started in 1997 and continues to this day; by 2019, more than 50,000 people lived there, and it's planned to eventually house well over 200,000.
Formerly a poor country where fishing and subsistence agriculture were the norm, the Maldives has undergone significant growth and development thanks to the advent of tourism in the 1970s, and is now seen as the premier destination for high-end tropical vacations; by the 2010s, practically every famous luxury hotel brand in the world has a property in the country. The islands were badly hurt by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which caused damage totaling over 3/5 of the country's GDP, though this has not deterred tourists in the slightest.
The Maldivian flag
The Maldivian national anthem
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Miscellaneous
- Capital and largest city: Malé (މާލެ)
- Population: 515,122
- Area: 300 sq km (120 sq mi) (186th)
- Government: Unitary presidential republic
- Currency: Maldivian rufiyaa (Rf/.ރ) (MVR)
- ISO-3166-1 Code: MV
- Country calling code: 960
- Highest point: Mount Villingili (5 m/17 ft) (201st)
- Lowest point: Indian Ocean (3,741 m/12,274 ft) (-)
