50 Fun Facts About Maldives

The Maldives lies in which ocean?

The chain sits southwest of India and Sri Lanka, about 750 km from the Asian mainland.

What is the capital and most populated city of the Maldives?

It was traditionally called the 'King's Island' because the royal dynasties ruled from it.

How many natural atolls make up the Maldives?

They stretch across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu in the north to Addu in the south.

Roughly how many coral islands does the Maldives consist of?

They are grouped in a double chain running 871 km north to south.

The Maldives holds which superlative among the world's countries?

Its average ground level is only about 1.5 metres above the sea.

What is the highest natural point in the Maldives?

Some sources credit Mount Villingili with a slightly loftier 5.1 metres.

How much dry land does the Maldives have in total?

That land is spread across some 90,000 square kilometres of sea.

The Maldives is the smallest country on which continent?

It is also the continent's second least populous state.

The IPCC has warned the Maldives could be uninhabitable by which year at current sea-level rise?

More than 80 percent of the land sits less than a metre above the sea.

What is the largest island in the Maldives?

It belongs to Laamu Atoll; there is a different Gan in Addu Atoll that hosted an RAF base.

The name Maldives is thought to derive from Sanskrit words meaning what?

In Sinhala the islands are Maala Divaina, the 'Necklace Islands'.

What is the official language of the Maldives?

It is an Indo-Aryan tongue closely related to Sinhala.

The modern Maldivian script, Thaana, is written in which direction?

It blends the older Dhives Akuru script with the Arabic abjad.

Which religion dominated the Maldives for roughly 1,400 years before Islam arrived?

Nearly all archaeological remains in the country are stupas and monasteries.

The last Buddhist king of the Maldives, Dhovemi, converted to Islam in which century?

He took the title Sultan Muhammad al-Adil and began six Islamic dynasties that lasted until 1932.

Which Moroccan traveller served as chief judge in the Maldives and married into its royal family in the 1340s?

He left after his strict rulings, and his objections to women's dress, chafed with the rulers.

Arab traders called the Maldives the 'Money Isles' because they exported enormous quantities of what?

The Bengal-Maldives shell trade was the largest shell-currency network in history.

Besides shells, the Maldives' other essential medieval export was coir, made from what?

Saltwater-resistant coir rope stitched and rigged dhows across the region.

Which European power garrisoned the Maldives in 1558, only to be expelled about 15 years on?

The revolt led by Muhammad Thakurufaanu is commemorated as National Day.

The Maldives formally became a British protectorate under an agreement of which year?

The sultan kept home rule while Britain handled defence and foreign affairs.

In which year did the Maldives gain independence from the United Kingdom?

The agreement was signed in Colombo on 26 July.

The republic declared on 11 November 1968 ended a monarchy that had lasted how long?

Ibrahim Nasir became the first president of the new republic.

The short-lived breakaway state formed in the southern atolls in 1959 was called what?

It grew out of the economic benefits of the British base at Gan and was crushed a year later.

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom served as president for how many years from 1978?

He won six consecutive elections without opposition.

Which country airlifted troops to crush the 1988 coup attempt in the Maldives, in Operation Cactus?

Paratroopers flew over 2,000 km from Agra and restored the government within hours.

The 1988 mercenaries who attacked Malé belonged to which Sri Lankan group?

About 80 fighters seized the airport before fleeing on a hijacked freighter.

Who founded the Maldivian Democratic Party in 2003 and won the country's first direct presidential election?

He later resigned in 2012 after police and army units mutinied.

To highlight climate change, where did the Maldives hold a world-first cabinet meeting in 2009?

The president also floated buying land in India, Sri Lanka or Australia as insurance.

The 2004 tsunami damage in the Maldives amounted to roughly what share of GDP?

With no continental shelf, the waves could not build height, and the tallest were about 4.3 metres.

Who was sworn in as the eighth President of the Maldives in October 2023?

He is widely seen as pro-China, cooling relations with India.

The Maldives temporarily withdrew from which organisation in 2016, rejoining in 2020?

It had first joined in 1982, some 17 years after independence.

Which sector is the largest in the Maldivian economy?

Fishing, once dominant, is now the second-largest sector.

The first tourist resort in the Maldives, Kurumba, welcomed its first guests in which year?

The number of resorts grew from two to 92 between then and 2007.

What is the traditional Maldivian boat called?

Its mechanisation in 1974 was a milestone for the fishing industry.

The main international airport serving Malé sits on which neighbouring island?

It is linked to the capital by the Sinamalé Bridge.

Which island near the capital was reclaimed from a lagoon in the early 1990s to serve as a rubbish dump?

It takes most of the waste from Malé and the nearby resorts.

What is the name of the Maldivian currency?

Its overprinting was one of the problems facing the government elected in 2008.

Which social statistic has the Maldives led the world in for many decades?

Liberal Islamic divorce rules and loose marital bonds are the suggested causes.

Under the 2008 constitution, Maldivian citizens are required to follow which faith?

Open practice of any other religion is forbidden and non-Muslims cannot become citizens.

Roughly what share of the Maldivian population lived in the capital in 2022?

That is up from just 27 percent in 2000.

Bodu Beru is a Maldivian tradition of what?

It accompanies traditional games such as Baibalaa, a volleyball-like sport played with a woven palm-leaf ball.

What are the colours of the Maldivian flag?

The red stands for the blood of national heroes and the green for peace and prosperity.

Which fish is the staple of Maldivian cooking, eaten fresh or dried?

Cured 'Maldive fish' shavings flavour dishes across the region.

Malé's 17th-century Hukuru Miskiy (Friday Mosque) is built from what material?

The Maldives has six coral mosques on UNESCO's tentative heritage list.

Roughly how far from the Asian mainland do the Maldives lie?

The chain sits southwest of India and Sri Lanka, stretching 871 km from north to south across the equator.

In which southernmost island group did Britain operate the RAF Gan airfield until 1976?

The base closed as part of Britain's wider withdrawal of forces 'East of Suez'.

Who was president of the breakaway United Suvadive Republic, with its capital at Hithadhoo?

Nasir sent gunboats and police from Malé a year later, and Afeef went into exile.

What does Maldivian universal health insurance, introduced in the 2000s, go by?

It came in alongside welfare benefits for over-65s, single parents and people with special needs.

Why did President Mohamed Nasheed controversially resign in February 2012?

He was later arrested, convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

What was the Maldives' population at the 2022 census?

It is Asia's second least populous country yet one of the world's most densely populated.