Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A country consisting of a chain of coral islands in the Indian Ocean some 650 km (400 miles) south-west of Sri Lanka.

Physical

The islands comprise some 1800 small atolls and sandbanks built on the summits of old, submerged volcanoes.

Economy

The economy of Maldives is based on tourism, which accounts for almost a third of GDP and almost two-thirds of foreign exchange receipts, and fish products, which are the only significant export. Ecological change threatens the future of the country, since many of its islands are a mere 1.8 m (6 feet) above sea level.

History

From 1887 to 1952 the islands were a sultanate under British protection. Maldivian demands for constitutional reform began in the 1930s; internal self-government was achieved in 1948 and full independence in 1965. In 1968 the sultanate was abolished, and a republic declared. The Maldives became a full member of the Commonwealth of Nations in 1985. In 1988, with Indian help, President Maumoun Abdul Gayoom (first elected 1978) suppressed an attempted coup. He was re-elected the following year, and again in 1993, 1998, and 2003. The Maldives suffered some damage and about 80 casualties from the Indian Ocean tsunami. In 2008 a new, more democratic, constitution was adopted and the country’s first multiparty presidential election gave victory to Mohamed Nasheed, a former political prisoner. His 2012 resignation—which he claimed to be involuntary—led to a period of political instability. In 2013 Nasheed was narrowly defeated in the presidential election by Abdulla Yameen, half-brother of the former President Gayoom. He cracked down on opposition, increased the Islamization of the country, and had Nasheed jailed for 'terrorism'. He withdrew the Maldives from the Commonwealth in 2016. A constitutional crisis erupted in February 2018 when the military occupied the capital and secured the release of Nasheed; Yameen responded by declaring a state of emergency.