Maldives Vacation
January 28th, 2012
The Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India’s Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India. During the colonial era, the Dutch referred to the country as “Maldivische Eilanden” in their documentation, while “Maldive Islands” is the anglicised version of the local name used by the British, which later came to be written “Maldives”. The archipelago is located on top of the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean.The Maldives also form a terrestrial ecoregion together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. The atolls of the Maldives encompass a territory spread over roughly 90,000 square km, making it one of the world’s most dispersed countries in geographic terms. Its population of 313,920 inhabits 200 of its 1,192 islands. Maldives’ capital and largest city Male has a population of 103,693 . It is located at the southern edge of North Male Atoll, in the Kaafu Atoll. It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King’s Island where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties were enthroned.