Maldives Islands

The Republic of Maldives is an island nation composed of atolls in the Indian Ocean. The Maldive Islands is made up of 26 atolls for a total of some 1,192 islets with most of them under water during high tide. The early inhabitants were mostly Buddhists but Islam came to the island-group around 1153. The people were subsequently colonized by the Portuguese, the Dutch and lastly, the British who granted them independence in 1965. It officially changed its form of government from being a British protectorate to an independent sultanate. Madivians hold the distinction of being the smallest Muslim-majority independent nation in the world.

The greatest threat to Maldives is not political but ecological and environmental. With an average elevation of just a few centimeters from sea level, global warming could inundate the island chain within a few decades. The sad part is that most Maldivians are not interested to stay around for long on their islands although their country is considered as a tropical paradise.