Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - History

Maldives - History

Western interest in the archaeological remains of early cultures on Maldives began with the work of H.C.P. Bell, a British commissioner of the Ceylon Civil Service. Bell was shipwrecked on the islands in 1879, and returned several times to investigate ancient Buddhist ruins. The early inhabitants of Maldives were from present day Kerala and probably spoke an archaic form of Tamil a Dravidian langauge [[1]]. In fact people in the neighboring Lakshadweep islands speak a form of Malayalam that is an off shoot of archaic Tamil. But by the the fourth century A.D., Theravada Buddhism originating from Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) became the dominant religion of the people of Maldives. Some scholars believe that the name "Maldives" derives from the Sanskrit maladvipa, meaning "garland of islands."

In the mid-1980s, the Maldivian government allowed the noted explorer and expert on early marine navigation, Thor Heyerdahl, to excavate ancient sites. Heyerdahl studied the ancient mounds, called hawitta by the Maldivians, found on many of the atolls. Some of his archaeological discoveries of stone figures and carvings from pre-Islamic civilizations are today exhibited in a side room of the small National Museum on Malé.

Heyerdahl's research indicates that as early as 2000 B.C., Maldives lay on the maritime trading routes of early Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Indus Valley civilizations. Heyerdahl believes that early sun-worshipping seafarers, called the Redin, first settled on the islands. This was evident then in many mosques facing the sun and not Mecca, lending credence to this theory. Because building space and materials were scarce, successive cultures constructed their places of worship on the foundations of previous buildings. Heyerdahl thus surmises that these sun-facing mosques were built on the ancient foundations of the Redin culture temples. Heyerdahl's early mosques have now in large part been converted to face Mecca, as Islam gained solidarity in Maldives, in the earlier half of the modern Republic.

According to Maldivian legend, a Sinhalese prince named Koimala was stranded with his bride--daughter of the king of Sri Lanka--in a Maldivian lagoon and stayed on to rule as the first sultan from the House of Theemuge. Prior to that Male had belonged a group of people today called as Giravaaru who claim ancestory from ancient Tamils (Tamilas).

The Maldivians followed Buddhism before they converted to Islam and the conversion is explained in a controversial mythological story about the demon Rannamaari.

Over the centuries, the islands have been visited and their development influenced by sailors from countries on the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean littorals. Mappila pirates from the Malabar Coast -- present-day Kerala state in India -- harassed the islands.

Although governed as an independent Islamic sultanate for most of its history from 1153 to 1968, Maldives was a British protectorate from 1887 until July 25, 1965. In 1953, there was a brief, abortive attempt to form a republic, but the sultanate was re-imposed. In 1959 objecting to Nasir’s changes, the inhabitants of the three southernmost atolls protest against the government. They form the United Suvadive Republic and elect a president, Abdulla Afeef Didi.

After independence from Britain in 1965, the sultanate continued to operate for another 3 years. On November 11, 1968, it was abolished and replaced by a republic, and the country assumed its present name. Tourism and fishing are being developed on the archipelago.

In November 1988, Tamil mercernaries from Sri Lanka invaded Maldives. After an appeal by the Maldivian government for help, India launched a military campaign to overthrow the mercernaries out of Maldives. On the night of November 3 1988, the Indian Air Force airlifted a parachute battalion group from Agra and flew them non-stop over 2000 km to Maldives. The Indian paratroopers landed at Hulule and secured the airfield and restored the Government rule at Male within hours. The brief, bloodless operation showed the capability of the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy in what was labeled as Operation Cactus.

On 26 December 2004 the Maldives were devastated by a tsunami following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. The absence of land mass against which waves could be built up reduced the destructive impact, preventing the waves from reaching much more than 1.2 - 1.5 meters in height [2]. Despite this, the archipelago's low lying nature (one of the lowest lying countries on Earth) meant that nearly all of the country was swamped. At least 75 people perished, including six foreigners, and all infrastructure was lost on 13 of the inhabited islands and 29 of the resort islands.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki