Maldivesދިވެހިރާއްޖެ

The first settlers probably came from southern India and Sri Lanka more than two thousand years ago. For centuries the islands were Buddhist, with stupas and monasteries whose mounds survive on several atolls and whose coral-stone carvings are in the National Museum in Malé. Arab, Persian and Chinese traders knew the islands for cowrie shells, used as currency across Asia and Africa, and for coir rope and dried fish.

In 1153, according to tradition, the king converted to Islam under the influence of a visiting Muslim scholar, and the country became a sultanate. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta spent months here in the 1340s, served as a judge, married into the elite and left a vivid, critical account. Six dynasties of sultans ruled from Malé over the following eight centuries, and the Old Friday Mosque, built of carved coral stone in 1658, is the finest monument of that era.

The Portuguese seized Malé in 1558 and held it for fifteen years until Muhammad Thakurufaanu and his brothers expelled them in a guerrilla campaign, still celebrated as National Day. Later the Dutch in Ceylon and then the British exercised loose control; a British protectorate was formalised in 1887. During and after the Second World War Britain built an air base at Gan in Addu Atoll, and a short-lived southern secession, the United Suvadive Republic (1959–63), grew out of resentment of Malé.

Independence came on 26 July 1965, and in 1968 a referendum abolished the sultanate. Ibrahim Nasir, the first president, launched the tourism industry; Maumoon Abdul Gayoom ruled from 1978 to 2008, surviving a coup attempt in 1988 that Indian troops helped defeat. The 2008 constitution introduced multi-party elections, won by the democracy activist Mohamed Nasheed, whose fall in 2012 began a decade of political turbulence and alternating pro-India and pro-China governments.

The Maldives sits on top of an undersea mountain range, the Chagos–Laccadive ridge. Over millions of years, as volcanic foundations sank, coral kept growing upward and outward, forming rings of reef around lagoons: atolls. The word atoll itself comes from Dhivehi (atholhu), one of the few Maldivian words in world languages. There are 26 natural atolls, grouped into 20 administrative ones with their own letters and names.

The islands are made of coral sand and rubble piled up by waves on the reef rim, typically 1–2 m above sea level. Fresh water sits as a thin lens in the sand under larger islands; smaller ones depend on rain and desalination. Vegetation is limited to coconut palms, screw pines, breadfruit and hardy shrubs, which is why traditional food depends so heavily on fish and coconut.

The reefs are among the richest in the Indian Ocean: around 1,100 species of fish, reef and whale sharks, manta rays and turtles. Channels (kandu) cutting through the atoll rims carry strong currents that concentrate plankton and big animals, the reason for the country's reputation for drift diving. Hanifaru Bay in Baa Atoll, where hundreds of mantas feed in the monsoon, anchors a UNESCO biosphere reserve.

The reefs are also fragile. Mass bleaching events in 1998, 2016 and 2024, caused by marine heatwaves, killed large areas of shallow coral; recovery is under way in many places but uneven. Land reclamation, dredging for resorts and harbours, and waste add local pressure. Visitors help most by not touching coral, using mineral sunscreen, and choosing operators that respect distance rules around mantas and whale sharks.

About 520,000 people live in the Maldives, including a large foreign workforce. Maldivians descend from South Asian settlers with Arab, East African and Southeast Asian influences brought by centuries of trade. More than a third live in the Greater Malé area, one of the most densely populated places on Earth; many outer islands have only a few hundred residents, and the government has long encouraged consolidation onto larger islands.

Dhivehi is an Indo-Aryan language related to Sinhala, with many Arabic, Persian, Hindi and English loanwords. It is written right to left in Thaana, a script developed around the sixteenth century whose first nine letters are adapted from Arabic numerals. Southern atolls such as Addu and Fuvahmulah speak dialects different enough to puzzle people from Malé.

Traditional island life revolved around fishing, coconut and communal work. Men fished by pole and line from wooden boats called dhoni, while women processed fish, made coir rope and ran the household; divorce and remarriage have long been common, giving the Maldives one of the highest divorce rates recorded anywhere. Bodu beru, 'big drum' music with dancing, is performed at celebrations and for visitors.

Today about a third of Maldivians work in government, and many young people move to Malé for education and jobs. Resort work draws staff from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Nepal as well as Maldivians, many of whom live on staff islands for weeks at a time. Housing shortages in Malé led to Hulhumalé, a reclaimed city next to the airport, now home to a growing share of the population.

Islam is the foundation of the Maldivian state. The constitution makes Sunni Islam the state religion, requires citizens to be Muslim and bars the public practice of other religions by citizens. Mosques stand at the centre of every inhabited island, the call to prayer structures the day, and shops close briefly at each prayer time and for longer at Friday midday prayers.

The law follows from this. Alcohol and pork are banned on inhabited islands and cannot be imported; resorts on uninhabited islands are licensed exceptions, which is why the country's tourism developed on the one-island-one-resort model that keeps visitors and villages apart. Dress codes, bans on religious proselytising and restrictions on idols apply to visitors on inhabited islands and at customs.

Religious conservatism has grown since the 2000s, influenced by scholars trained in the Gulf and Pakistan, and the country saw a number of its citizens leave to fight in Syria in the 2010s. At the same time, a lively political scene, social media and a young population push in other directions. Debates about women's roles, music and the pace of change are part of everyday politics.

For visitors on local islands, practical respect is simple: cover shoulders and knees in the village, keep swimwear to the designated beach, avoid eating in public during Ramadan daylight, and do not bring alcohol, pork or religious items for other faiths. On resorts, rules are relaxed, but staff are often Maldivian and appreciate modesty when you visit a nearby island.

Tuna is the backbone of Maldivian life. Skipjack and yellowfin are caught by pole and line, one fish at a time, a method the country has kept while other nations turned to nets; it produces little bycatch and is marketed abroad as sustainable. Watching a dhoni return in the late afternoon, with the catch carried straight to the Malé fish market, shows how central the trade still is.

Preservation shaped the cuisine. Tuna was boiled, smoked and sun-dried into 'Maldive fish' (valhomas), a hard, long-keeping product traded to Sri Lanka and south India for centuries and still a key seasoning there. The boiling liquid was reduced into rihaakuru, a thick, salty paste. Fresh tuna goes into garudhiya, a clear broth eaten with rice, lime and chilli, and into curries with coconut milk.

Coconut provides the other half: grated flesh in mas huni, the breakfast mix of tuna, coconut, onion and chilli eaten with flatbread, and coconut milk in curries and sweets. Rice and flour have always been imported, which is why roshi flatbread and rice feature alongside local starches such as breadfruit, taro and cassava. Afternoon tea brings trays of hedhikaa, fried and baked snacks mostly filled with tuna.

Resort dining imports almost everything, from Australian beef to European cheese, which is part of why prices are high. The best way to taste local food is at a café (hotaa) on an inhabited island or in Malé, where a plate of short eats and sweet tea costs a few dollars, or at a guesthouse where the owner's family cooks.

Tourism began in 1972 with two resorts, Kurumba and Bandos, near Malé, opened after an Italian travel agent spotted the potential. The government chose to lease uninhabited islands to single resorts, keeping foreigners and their alcohol away from villages. The model spread across the atolls, with seaplanes from the 1990s opening distant islands. Today the country has around 180 resorts and receives more than two million visitors a year.

Only in 2009 did the rules allow guesthouses on inhabited islands. Maafushi, Thoddoo, Ukulhas and dozens of others now host budget and mid-range travellers, bringing income directly to island families but also debates over dress, alcohol boats anchored offshore and crowding. Guesthouse tourism has made the Maldives possible for travellers who could never afford a resort.

Climate change defines the national debate. With most land barely above the high-tide line, sea-level rise threatens the country's existence; in 2009 President Nasheed held a cabinet meeting underwater to make the point. The response has been sea walls, reclamation of higher islands such as Hulhumalé, and floating-city projects, alongside questions about whether building ever more resorts and airports fits the warning.

Politics is about neighbours as much as parties. India and China have both funded bridges, airports and housing; President Mohamed Muizzu, elected in 2023 on a campaign to send Indian military personnel home, later rebuilt ties with Delhi as debt pressures mounted. For visitors this shows in new airports on outer atolls, the Sinamalé bridge linking Malé to the airport, and an economy that depends heavily on tourist dollars.