1.
Gaafu Alif Atoll
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Gaafu Alifu is an administrative division of the Maldives created on February 8,1962 when Huvadhu Atoll was divided into two districts. Gaafu Alifu corresponds to the section of this large natural atoll north of the line extending between the channels of Footukandu and Vaarulu Kandu. The capital of district is Vilingili. NOTE, Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Kaafu and they are not the proper names of the natural atolls that make up these divisions. Some atolls are divided into two divisions while other divisions are made up of two or more natural atolls. The order followed by the letters is from North to South. These code letters are not accurate from the geographical and cultural point of view, however, they have become popular among tourists and foreigners in the Maldives who find them easier to pronounce than the true atoll names in Dhivehi. Some of the ancient kings of Maldives traced their ancestry to families of Devvadu Island. There are many Buddhist archaeological remains in Devvadū, mainly low hills left by ruined stupas, none of these ancient remains have been properly investigated yet. In January 1959, the three atolls, Huvadhu, Fuvahmulah and Addu, were involved in setting up the breakaway United Suvadive Republic which survived until September 1963. The name of the secessionist state was taken from the ancient name of Huvadhu Atoll, bell, The Maldive Islands, Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy. Council for Linguistic and Historical Research, male’1989 Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. 1999, ISBN 84-7254-801-5 Muhammadu Ibrahim Lutfee
2.
Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll
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Gaafu Dhaalu is an administrative district of the Maldives formed by the southwestern section of Huvadhu Atoll. It was created on February 8,1962 when Huvadhu Atoll was divided into two districts, Gaafu Dhaalu corresponds to the Southwestern section of this large natural atoll, south of the line extending between the channels of Footukandu and Vaarulu Kandu. The capital of region is Thinadhoo. There are 153 islands in this district,10 of which are inhabited and this district is located about 340 kilometres south of the capital Malé. NOTE, Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Kaafu and they are not the proper names of the natural atolls that make up these divisions. Some atolls are divided into two divisions while other divisions are made up of two or more natural atolls. The order followed by the letters is from North to South. These code letters are not accurate from the geographical and cultural point of view, however, they have become popular among tourists and foreigners in the Maldives who find them easier to pronounce than the true atoll names in Dhivehi. Historically the Huvadu atoll chief had a measure of self-government. He even had the privilege, not granted to any other chief of the Maldives, to fly his own flag in his vessels. In January 1959, the three atolls, Huvadhu, Fuvahmulah and Addu, were involved in setting up the breakaway United Suvadive Republic which survived until September 1963. The name of the secessionist state was taken from the ancient name of this atoll, in some islands, like Gaddhū, there was opposition to the secession, and by means of threats and arson, the groups of people opposing the Suvadive state were forced to agree. Havaru Thinadhoo was burnt down by soldiers sent by then Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir from Malé during the secession in 1962, the Kaadedhdhoo Domestic Airport, located on the formerly uninhabited island of Kaadedhdhoo was opened in 1993. In 2006 the Tourism Ministry of Maldives released the island of Vatavarrehaa for tourist resort development, a 150 bed resort is planned, this is the first resort to be built in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll. There are important Buddhist Archaeological remains in the Islands of Fiyoaree, Gan, Vādū and these ruins consist mainly of large ruined stupas. The stupa in Gan was partially explored by Thor Heyerdahls archaeologists in recent test-excavations, however, all other ruins have not been well researched yet. Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy, xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Archaeological Test-Excavations On The Maldive Islands, the Kon-Tiki Museum Occasional Papers, Vol.2
3.
Huvadhu Atoll
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Huvadhu is sometimes referred to as the largest atoll of the Maldives. The fact is, however, that it is the second largest natural atoll, taking into account that Thiladhunmathi Atoll and Miladhunmadulu Atoll together stand for the largest. Even so, with an area of 3152 km², land area 38.5 km², Huvadhu is 10th largest atoll in the world, larger than Ontong Java Atoll, on its reef rim are many inhabited islands. The best quality mats of the Maldives are woven in this atoll, the local grass hau is dyed in two colors, black and yellow. Huvadu Atoll has been divided into two districts for administrative purposes since the 1970s. These divisions are Northern Huvadhu Atoll in the north, and Southern Huvadhu Atoll, the inhabitants of this large atoll speak their own distinct form of the Dhivehi language, known as Huvadu Bas. Huvadhu Bas also retains old Sinhala words, is considered to be closer to Sinhala than the dialects of Dhivehi. The ancient Sanskritised name of this atoll was Suvadiva and its capital and most important island was Havaru Tinadū. Historically the Huvadu atoll chief had a measure of self-government. He even had the privilege, not granted to any other chief of the Maldives, to fly his own flag in his vessels. The flag of the Huvadu Atoll Chief was similar to the flag of Nepal in cut, there are many Buddhist archaeological remains in Huvadū. Therefore, it is likely that this was a very important Atoll in that period of Maldivian History, none of these ancient remains have been properly investigated yet. Some of the ancient kings of Maldives traced their ancestry to families of Devvadu island. In January 1959, the three atolls, Huvadhu, Fuvahmulah and Addu, were involved in setting up the breakaway United Suvadive Republic which survived until September 1963. The name of the secessionist state was taken from the ancient name of this atoll, in some islands, like Gaddhoo, there was opposition to the secession, and by means of threats and arson, the groups of people opposing the Suvadive state were forced to agree. The name of the channel north of this atoll is locally known as Huvadu Kandu. It appeared on the old French maps as Courant de Souadou, other names are Suvadiva Channel or One-a-half Degree Channel. It is named after Huvadu Atoll and it is one of the broadest channels between the atolls of Maldives, archived from the original on 2007-02-21
4.
Atolls of the Maldives
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The Maldives are formed by a number of natural atolls plus atolls in the form of a few islands and isolated reefs today which form a pattern stretching from 7 degrees 10 North to 0 degrees 45 South. The Maldives is a long and narrow country formed by 26 natural atolls, some atolls are in the form of a number of islands by time and in the form of isolated reefs, which could be classified as smaller atoll formations. All land above the surface in the Maldives is of coralline origin, the atolls of the Maldives form a quite regular chain and, especially in the northern and central atolls, an arrayed structure is apparent. There are broad and deep channels in some atolls. The origin of the atoll itself is in the language of the Maldives. Atoll is now used in languages worldwide. Traditionally, Maldivians call the ending in -madulu or -mathi by their name without adding the word Atoll at the end. For example, it is correct to write simply Kolhumadulhu, without adding the word Atholhu at the end and this is also the case in the atoll known as Faadhippolhu. The atolls of the Maldives are very complex structures and formerly they were dangerous for navigators. These Admiralty charts were printed as three separate large maps by the Hydrographic Service of the Royal Navy, although they contain a few errors, Moresbys charts were so good that they were favoured by Maldivian pilots navigating through the treacherous waters of their atolls until the 1990s. Nowadays there are more accurate maps of the Maldives based on satellite surveys, however, Maldivian navigators still claim that Commander Moresbys charts provide a wealth of data that the modern maps dont give. At the time that they were drawn, the maps of the Maldives were deemed of such a quality that they were inspected personally by Queen Victoria. Owing to the many beautiful diving grounds of the atolls of the Maldives. Hence, during the last couple of decades many guides and maps of the best diving spots have been published and some of them are very accurate, the list below is a description of the atolls of the Maldives. Ihavandhippolhu Atoll is the northernmost atoll in the Maldives and it is a small natural atoll 22 km in length. It has 25 islands lying all around the boundary reef, one long barrier reef forms the western side of the atoll. There are several coral patches in the lagoon and the depth in the centre is 20 to 30 fathoms. Ihavandhippolhu is bounded in the north by the channel known as Māmalē Kandu which separates the islands of Maldives from those belonging to India
5.
Ontong Java Atoll
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Ontong Java Atoll or Luangiua is one of the largest atolls on earth. It is sometimes referred to as Lord Howe Atoll, not to be confused with Lord Howe Island, geographically it belongs to a scattered group of three atolls which includes nearby Nukumanu Atoll and the wholly submerged Roncador Reef located 75 kilometres to the south. Administratively Ontong Java belongs to the Solomon Islands, as an outlying part of Malaita Province, it forms the northernmost tract of land of this state, over 250 km north of Santa Isabel Island. The entire size of the atoll is 1400 km², but there are only 12 km² of land, the islands are mostly low-lying coral formations, the highest elevation being 13 metres. Approximately 2000 people live on the atoll, there are two main villages where the population is concentrated with 1,386 on the island of Luaniua in the eastern end and 689 on Pelau in the northeast. The islands were first inhabited by Polynesians approximately 2000 years ago, the main cultural and commercial exchanges took place with the inhabitants of neighboring Nukumanu Atoll, with whom Ontong Java people share many cultural affinities. It is likely that first European sighting was by the Spanish expedition of Álvaro de Mendaña on 1 February 1568 and it was charted by them as Bajos de la Candelaria. The following verifiable sighting by Europeans was by Abel Tasman in 1643 who named it Ontong Java, however, it wasnt until 1791 that Europeans set foot on the islands, john Hunter named it Lord Howe Atoll. In 1893 the islands were annexed by Germany and ceded to Great Britain in 1899, today the atolls inhabitants make a subsistence living by means of coconut and taro cultivation, as well as fishing. Until a ban in 2005, the source of income was beche de mer and trochus shells. The inhabitants are involved in copra production. It also has a number of sea birds, including the black-naped tern. Ontong Java is a Polynesian outlier, the inhabitants retain a Polynesian character despite their location in the Melanesian Archipelago of the Solomon Islands. In former times both men and women wore elaborate tattoos all over their bodies, two dialects of one language are spoken in this atoll, Luangiua and Pelau. This language belongs to the Polynesian stock, Ontong Java was visited by English missionary George Brown in mid 19th century. Brown described the population as Polynesian and referred to the place as Lua Niua and he recorded the existence of a two-class system in Ontong Java and, based on it, inferred that it was probable that exogamous classes formerly existed in Samoa as well. This expedition visited both Ontong Java and neighboring Nukumanu Atoll, where they carried out their research. Their work, Luangiua und Nukumanu was published in 1931, Sarfert and Damm claimed that both names of the atoll, Lord Howe and Ontong Java, were incorrect and called this atoll Luangiua in their works
6.
Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve
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Lihou Reef and its cays were discovered by Lieutenant John Lihou, R. N. on 23 February 1823. Lihou, then Master of the brig-sloop HMS Zenobia, was on passage from Manila to South America, after a hazardous passage through the reef, the ship departed the Great Barrier Reef via an opening near Murray Islands. On 23 February, the Lihou Reefs were sighted, Lihou Reef is the second largest atoll by total size in the Coral Sea, after the Chesterfield Islands. It is U-shaped, with an opening in the south-west, the size of the lagoon is about 100 by 30 km, with an area of 2529 km², making the atoll one of the largest in the world. Nevertheless, the land area of the islets and cays is little more than a square kilometre. The lagoon is up to 60 m deep, the reserve contains 18 islets and cays,9 each on the Northern Rim and the Southern Rim, ranging in size from 5,000 to 168,000 m². Turtle Islet reaches a height of 6 m, and Observatory Cay 2 m, there is an automatic weather station on Turtle Islet. Just Northeast of Anne Cay is the Herald Passage into the lagoon, more pictures at the Wayback Machine
7.
Dhivehi language
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Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by about 350,000 people in the Maldives, where it is the national language. It is also the first language of nearly 10,000 people on the island of Minicoy in the Union territory of Lakshadweep, India, where the Mahl dialect of the Maldivian language is spoken. The ethnic autonym for the language, Divehi, is found in English as Dhivehi. Maldivian is written in the Thaana script, the major dialects of Maldivian are Malé, Huvadhu, Mulaku, Addu, Haddhunmathee, and Maliku. The standard form of Maldivian is Malé, which is spoken in the Maldivian capital of the same name, the Maliku dialect spoken in Minicoy is officially referred to as Mahl by the Lakshadweep administration. This has been adopted by many authors when referring to Maldivian spoken in Minicoy, Maldivian is a descendent of Maharashtri Prakrit and is closely related to the Marathi, Konkani and Sinhalese languages, but not mutually intelligible with them. Many languages have influenced the development of the Maldivian language through the ages, others include French, Persian, Portuguese, Hindustani, and English. The English words atoll and dhoni are anglicised forms of the Maldivian words atoḷu, the origin of the word Divehi is Div+vehi meaning Islanders. Bas means language, so Divehi-bas means Islanders language, harry Charles Purvis Bell, one of the first Dhivehi linguists, called it Divehi. This was consistent with Maldives, the name of the country, for the -dives of Maldives, Wilhelm Geiger, a German linguist who undertook the first research on Maldivian linguistics in the early 20th century, also called the language Divehi. An h was added to the name of the language— Dhivehi— in 1976, today the spelling with an h is both common and official usage in the Maldives. Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language closely related to the Sinhalese language of Sri Lanka, Maldivian represents the southernmost Indo-Aryan language. Together with Sinhala, Maldivian represents a subgroup within the Modern Indo-Aryan languages which is called Insular Indo-Aryan, however, Sinhala and Maldivian are not mutually intelligible. Maldivian is descended from the Maharashtri Prakrit of ancient and medieval India and these Prakrits were originally derived from Old Indo-Aryan vernaculars related to Vedic Sanskrit. Maldivian has a written history of about eight hundred years. The earliest writings were on the lōmāfānu of the 12th and 13th centuries, early inscriptions on coral stone have also been found. The oldest inscription found to date is an inscription on a coral stone, Maldivian is an Indo-Aryan language of the Sinhalese-Maldivian subfamily. It developed in isolation from other languages until the 12th century
8.
Sinhalese language
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Sinhalese, known natively as Sinhala, is the native language of the Sinhalese people, who make up the largest ethnic group in Sri Lanka, numbering about 16 million. Sinhalese is also spoken as a language by other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. It belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages, Sinhalese has its own writing system, the Sinhalese alphabet, which is one of the Brahmic scripts, a descendant of the ancient Indian Brahmi script closely related to the Kadamba alphabet. Sinhalese is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, Sinhalese, along with Pali, played a major role in the development of Theravada Buddhist literature. The closest relative of Sinhalese is the language of the Maldives and Minicoy Island, Sinhala is a Sanskrit term, the corresponding Middle Indo-Aryan word is Sīhala. The name is a derivation from siṃha, the Sanskrit word for lion Siṃhāla is attested as a Sanskrit name of the island of in the Bhagavata Purana, the name is sometimes glossed as abode of lions, and attributed to a supposed former abundance of lions on the island. According to the chronicle Mahavamsa, written in Pali, Prince Vijaya, in the following centuries, there was substantial immigration from Eastern India which led to an admixture of features of Eastern Prakrits. An example of an Eastern feature is the ending -e for masculine nominative singular in Sinhalese Prakrit. There are several cases of vocabulary doublets, e. g. the words mässā and mäkkā, some of the differences can be explained by the substrate influence of the parent stock of the Vedda language. Sinhalese has many words that are found in Sinhalese, or shared between Sinhalese and Vedda and not etymologically derivable from Middle or Old Indo-Aryan. Common examples are kola for leaf in Sinhala and Vedda, dola for pig in Vedda, Other common words are rera for wild duck, and gala for stones. The author of the oldest Sinhalese grammar, Sidatsangarava, written in the 13th century CE, the grammar lists naramba and kolamba as belonging to an indigenous source. Kolamba is the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo, however, formal Sinhalese is more similar to Pali and medieval Sinhalese. g. I do not know whether it is new, as a result of centuries of colonial rule, modern Sinhalese contains some Portuguese, Dutch and English loanwords. It is now spoken by a few families in Macau and in the Macanese diaspora, Sinhalese shares many features common to other Indo-European languages. For native speakers all dialects are mutually intelligible, and they might not even realise that the differences are significant, the language of the Vedda people resembles Sinhala to a great extent, although it has a large number of words which cannot be traced to another language. The Rodiya use another dialect of Sinhalese, Rodiya used to be a caste in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka no longer recognizes castes, in Sinhalese there is distinctive diglossia, as in many languages of South Asia
9.
Sanskrit
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Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
10.
Thinadhoo (Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll)
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Thinadhoo is the capital of Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll and the proposed capital for the Upper South Province of the Maldives. It has its own dialect of Dhivehi which is different from northern. Kaadedhdhoo Domestic Airport is situated on an island connected by ferry. This island was known as Havaru Thinadhoo and it was the traditional seat of the Atoll Chief. Written history of the island is sparse, but it was known for not converting to Islam with the rest of Maldives, when Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al Auzam captured Male in 1573 AD, he journeyed to the South of the country and visited Thinadhoo to find its inhabitants practicing Buddhism. Bodu Thakurufaanu convinced the people to convert to Islam, days later a calamity befell the island - all new born children were dying. With the advice of a woman from Rahadhoo who had claimed that this would not have happened if had lived as you lived before, on learning about this, Bodu Thakurufaanu sent his Generals, dubbed Havaru, who were based in Malé. These Havaru went to Thinadhoo and recaptured the island after much bloodshed, the island itself was renamed Havaru Thinadhoo. When havaru were given these six regions they leased them to the people of Thinadhoo under the Vaaru system, each year Thinadhoo people were to send the annual Varuvaa to the Havaru based in Male. This practice lasted till the sultanate of Muhammad Mueenuddeen I who was the sultan of the Maldives from 1798 to 1835 and this practice was abolished by the orders of Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir. On 9 July 1959, the Ministry of Defense called for volunteers to accompany the Government mission to the southern atolls, the Maldivian Government vessel, the Maldive Star was prepared for the mission and a total of 700 volunteers and army personnel were chosen. The Maldive Star left Male’ on 14 July 1959, travelling first to Haddummathi, the population of Gadhdhoo were loyal to the Maldivian Government and played a significant role in keeping the Male’ Government informed of the situation in the atoll. The leaders of group were Ali Kaleyfaanu, Gadhdhoo Khatheeb Hussain Maniku. The island of Gadhdhoo was targeted for punishment by the dissidents, soon afterwards, the men from Havaru Thinadhoo capitulated and were handed over to the ship by the islanders. Essential food items were off-loaded from the Maldive Star, which left for Havaru Thinadhoo. The population of Havaru Thinadhoo was quite hostile to the Maldivian Government, letters were sent ashore to the leaders of the rebellion, and orders were given the islanders to submit peacefully and that no harm would come to them, but these orders had no effect. It was Friday, and at time the Government force went back to their vessel telling the islanders to submit. After prayers, the Maldivian force went back to the island and eventually the dissidents gave up, the rest of the day and most of the night were spent in unloading necessary foodstuffs from the boat to the island
