An atoll is a type of low, coral island found in tropical oceans and consisting of a coral-algal reef surrounding a central depression. The depression may be part of the emergent island, but more typically is a part of the sea (that is, a lagoon), or very rarely is an enclosed body of fresh, brackish, or highly saline water. Atoll - Usage. The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi (Indo-Aryan language of the Maldive Islands) word atholhu (Dhivehi: އަތޮޅު). Its first recorded use in English w ...

Including:

• Atoll - Usage
• Atoll - Formation
• Atoll - Distribution and size
• Atoll - See Also

Read more here: » Atoll: Encyclopedia - Atoll

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 fo ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - The Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - History

The earliest form of currency used in the Maldives was cowry shells (Cypraea moneta) and historical accounts of travelers indicate that they were traded in this manner even during the 13th Century. Ibn Batuta (1344 A.D.) observed that more than 40 ships loaded with cowry shells were exported each year. A single gold Dinar was worth 400,000 shells. A few centuries later, during the 1600s and 1700s silver wires (folded in the middle to make two parallel straps) with engraved Persian and Arabic inscriptions were imported and trade ...

See also:

Maldivian rufiyaa, Maldivian rufiyaa - History, Maldivian rufiyaa - Bank Notes

Read more here: » Maldivian rufiyaa: Encyclopedia II - Maldivian rufiyaa - History

The earliest form of currency used in the Maldives was cowry shells (Cypraea moneta) and historical accounts of travelers indicate that they were traded in this manner even during the 13th Century. Ibn Batuta (1344 A.D.) observed that more than 40 ships loaded with cowry shells were exported each year. A single gold Dinar was worth 400,000 shells. A few centuries later, during the 1600s and 1700s silver wires (folded in the middle to make two parallel straps) with engraved Persian and Arabic inscriptions were imported and trade ...

See also:

Maldivian rufiyaa, Maldivian rufiyaa - Overview, Maldivian rufiyaa - History, Maldivian rufiyaa - Bank Notes

Read more here: » Maldivian rufiyaa: Encyclopedia II - Maldivian rufiyaa - History

Charles Darwin published an explanation for the creation of coral atolls in the South Pacific (Darwin, 1842) based upon observations made during a five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle (1831-1836). His explanation, which is accepted as basically correct, involved considering that several tropical island types—from high volcanic island, through barrier reef island, to atoll—represented a sequence of gradual subsidence of what started as an oceanic volcano. He reasoned that a fringing coral reef surrounding a volcanic island in the ...

See also:

Atoll, Atoll - Usage, Atoll - Formation, Atoll - Distribution and size

Read more here: » Atoll: Encyclopedia II - Atoll - Formation

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is the son of Abdul Gayoom Ibrahim (Maafaiygey Dhon Seedhi) and Khadheeja Moosa. His father had 25 children by 8 different wives and Gayoom is the 10th in his family. His mother passed away when he was studying in Cairo, Egypt. Gayoom's father who passed away in 1982, at the age of 87, saw the first term of his son's presidency. Much of Gayoom's early life was spent in Egypt. He was among the 15 students selected at the direction of the then-president Mohamed Amin Didi for special education overseas. At the age of ...

See also:

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Early and personal life, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Genealogy, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Education, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Career and Politics, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Presidency, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Notable visits and participations, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Criticism, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Reference

Read more here: » Maumoon Abdul Gayoom: Encyclopedia II - Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Early and personal life

The Black Friday demonstration was associated with the reform activities started in 2003 following the death of Evan Naseem. His death and the following riots of September 20 were partly responsible for the formation of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in exile in neighboring Sri Lanka. Ever since the MDP's formation, the Maldivian government has been under constant international pressure. The opposition movement has often accused President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of being a brutal dictator who uses fear and intimidation to rule. Gayoom's critics are often said to be arrested ...

See also:

Black Friday Maldives, Black Friday Maldives - Reform activities, Black Friday Maldives - Detention of the reformists, Black Friday Maldives - Demonstration, Black Friday Maldives - Crackdown, Black Friday Maldives - State of Emergency, Black Friday Maldives - Internet and SMS service taken offline, Black Friday Maldives - Local media reporting, Black Friday Maldives - One year anniversary demonstration

Read more here: » Black Friday Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Black Friday Maldives - Reform activities

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. Historians have established that by 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 mala ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - The Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - History

Until 1948, a melody without lyrics called the 'Salaamathi' was performed by a royal band on state occasions at the 'Etherekoilu', the residence of the Sultan. Soon after it was decided that the Salaamathi needed lyrics accompanied by a new melody. The lyrics were written by a young poet and later chief justice, Mohamed Jameel Didi. Jameel Didi wrote the words for the new Salaamathi bearing in mind the influence of Urdu poetry during the time, closely imitating its style and also furnishing his work with words borrowed from Arabic. Af ...

See also:

Gaumii salaam, Gaumii salaam - History, Gaumii salaam - Lyrics, Gaumii salaam - In Thaana Script, Gaumii salaam - Romanized Transliteration, Gaumii salaam - Translation

Read more here: » Gaumii salaam: Encyclopedia II - Gaumii salaam - 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 fo ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - History

A segmental script has graphemes which represent the phonemes (basic unit of sound) of a language. Note that there need not be (and rarely is) a one-to-one correspondence between the graphemes of the script and the phonemes of a language. A phoneme may be represented only by some combination or string of graphemes, the same phoneme may be represented by more than one distinct grapheme, the same grapheme may stand for more than one phoneme, or some combination of all of the above. Segmental scripts may be further divided according to the types of phonemes they typically record:See also:

List of writing systems, List of writing systems - Pictographic/ideographic writing systems, List of writing systems - Logographic writing systems, List of writing systems - Consonant-based logographies, List of writing systems - Syllable-based logographies, List of writing systems - Syllabaries, List of writing systems - Part syllabic part alphabetic scripts, List of writing systems - Segmental scripts, List of writing systems - Abjads, List of writing systems - True alphabets, List of writing systems - Abugidas, List of writing systems - Undeciphered systems thought to be writing, List of writing systems - Undeciphered manuscripts

Read more here: » List of writing systems: Encyclopedia II - List of writing systems - Segmental scripts

The very first Maldivian flag was predominantly red in color and was used by the Sultans until the beginning of the 20th Century. It had a practical design to augment visibility when set against the blue background of the seas. It featured a black and white hoist called the Dhandimathi (Dhivehi: ދަނޑިމަތި) which was an extension of the flagpole. This was presumably because old flagpoles were painted white with a black strip spiralling upwards. This historic flag has been mistakenly associated with the idea of communism, however since the flag predates comm ...

See also:

Flag of the Maldives, Flag of the Maldives - History, Flag of the Maldives - Symbolism, Flag of the Maldives - Gallery

Read more here: » Flag of the Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Flag of the Maldives - History

Afrikaans: South Africa (with English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu) Albanian: Albania Macedonia Part of Serbia and Montenegro Kosovo Arabic: Algeria Bahrain Chad (with French) Comoros (with French and Shikomor) Djibouti (with French) Egypt Eritrea (with Tigrignan) Iraq (with Kurdish) ...

See also:

List of official languages, List of official languages - Official languages of sovereign countries, List of official languages - Official languages at the level of state or provincial unit only

Read more here: » List of official languages: Encyclopedia II - List of official languages - Official languages of sovereign countries

List of languages by writing system - Sorang Sompeng. Sora List of languages by writing system - Ol Cemet'. Santali List of languages by writing system - Varang Kshiti. Ho ...

See also:

List of languages by writing system, List of languages by writing system - Arabic script, List of languages by writing system - Armenian alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Brahmic family and derivatives, List of languages by writing system - Canadian Syllabics, List of languages by writing system - Cyrillic alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Ge'ez script, List of languages by writing system - Georgian alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Greek alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Han characters and derivatives, List of languages by writing system - Hebrew alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Latin alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Munda scripts, List of languages by writing system - Sorang Sompeng, List of languages by writing system - Ol Cemet', List of languages by writing system - Varang Kshiti, List of languages by writing system - Pahawh Hmong script[1], List of languages by writing system - Syriac alphabet, List of languages by writing system - Thaana, List of languages by writing system - Tifinagh, List of languages by writing system - Yi script

Read more here: » List of languages by writing system: Encyclopedia II - List of languages by writing system - Munda scripts

Ustaz Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, the present chief justice of Maldives is from Fuvahmulah. Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission. Since 1996, Maldives has been the official progress monitor of the Indian Ocean Commission. In 2002, Maldives applied for full membership, but was refused. The first reason they were rejected is that their geographical position is different from other member states. Maldives are considered in Asia instead of Africa. The other reason was more complicated. The official ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - Judiciary

The Maldivian ethnic identity is a blend of the cultures of peoples who settled on the islands, reinforced by religion and language. The earliest settlers were probably from Southern India. Indo-Aryan speakers followed them from Sri Lanka in the fourth and fifth centuries AD. In the 12th century AD, sailors from East Africa and Arab countries came to the islands. Originally Buddhists, Maldivians were converted to Sunni Islam in the mid-12th century. Islam is the official religion of the entire population. Strict ad ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - Demographics

Maldives holds the record for being the flattest country in the world, with a maximum altitude of only 2.3 metres. Although there have been reports of rising sea levels threatening the islands, the sea level has actually lowered in recent decades. A tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake caused parts of Maldives to be covered by sea water and left many people homeless. After the disaster, cartographers are planning to redraw the maps of the islands due to alterations by the tsu ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - Geography

Maldives has 26 natural atolls which have been divided into 20 administrative atolls and one city. [3] The northern most atoll is Haa Alif Atoll and the southern most is Seenu. The smallest atoll is Meemu Atoll with only one island (the largest island in Maldives). The largest atoll in both Maldives and the whole world is Gaafu Alif Atoll which is just south of the One and a Half Degree Channel. Each atoll is administered by an Atoll Chief (Atholhu Veriyaa) appointed by the President (Maumoon Abdul Gayoom). Atoll chiefs administer as ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - Atolls

Before returning to Maldives, after his studies, Gayoom worked in American University in Cairo in 1967 and Ahmadu Bello university in Kano, Nigeria as lecturer in Islamic Studies for two years from 1969. When his two year contract with Ahmadu Bello university ended, he decided to return to the Maldives. After almost 24 years since he first departed Maldives for studies, he returned to Maldives in 1971?. Three weeks after arrival he joined Aminiyya School as a teacher where he taught English, Arithmetic and Islam. In 1972 he was app ...

See also:

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Early and personal life, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Genealogy, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Education, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Career and Politics, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Presidency, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Notable visits and participations, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Criticism, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Reference

Read more here: » Maumoon Abdul Gayoom: Encyclopedia II - Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - Career and Politics

Ustaz Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, the present chief justice of Maldives is from Fuvahmulah. Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission. Since 1996, Maldives has been the official progress monitor of the Indian Ocean Commission. In 2002, Maldives applied for full membership, but was refused. The first reason they were rejected is that their geographical position is different from other member states. Maldives are considered in Asia instead of Africa. The other reason was more complicated. The official ...

See also:

Maldives, Maldives - History, Maldives - The Economy, Maldives - Fisheries, Maldives - Tourism, Maldives - Cottage industries, Maldives - Politics, Maldives - Judiciary, Maldives - Maldives and the Indian Ocean Commission, Maldives - Atolls, Maldives - Geography, Maldives - Demographics, Maldives - Culture, Maldives - Miscellaneous topics

Read more here: » Maldives: Encyclopedia II - Maldives - Judiciary