The Maldives authoritatively the Republic of Maldives, is a South Asian island nation, situated in the Indian Ocean, arranged in the Arabian Sea. It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka. The chain of twenty-six atolls extends from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to the Addu City in the south. Including a domain crossing about 298 square kilometers (115 sq mi), the Maldives is one of the world's most geologically scattered nations, and the littlest Asian nation by both land territory and populace, with somewhat more than 393,500 tenants. Male is the capital and most populated city, customarily called the "Lord's Island" for its focal area.
The Maldives archipelago is situated on the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a boundless submarine mountain run in the Indian Ocean, which additionally frames an earthbound ecoregion, together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. With a normal ground-level height of 1.5 meters (4 ft 11 in) above ocean level, it is the world's least nation, with even its most elevated regular point being the most minimal on the planet, at 2.4 meters (7 ft 10 in). Because of the consequent dangers postured by rising ocean levels, the legislature has promised to make the Maldives a carbon-impartial nation by 2019.
The Maldives have been verifiably and socially connected to the Indian subcontinent since the 4th century BCE. The Maldivian archipelago was Islamized in the twelfth century and solidified as a sultanate, creating solid business and social ties with Asia and Africa. From the mid sixteenth century, the area went under the expanding impact of pilgrim forces, with the Maldives turning into a British protectorate in 1887. Autonomy from the United Kingdom was accomplished in 1965 and a presidential republic was built up in 1968 with a choice People's Majlis. The following decades have been portrayed by political shakiness, endeavors at popularity based change and ecological difficulties postured by environmental change.
The Maldives are an establishing individual from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). It is likewise an individual from the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Non Aligned Movement. The World Bank characterizes the Maldives as having an upper center wage economy. Angling has verifiably been the prevailing financial action, and remains the biggest part by a long shot, trailed by the quickly developing tourism industry. Alongside Sri Lanka, it is one of just two South Asian nations appraised "high" on the Human Development Index (HDI), with its per capita pay the most noteworthy among SAARC countries.
The Maldives was a Commonwealth republic from July 1982 until its withdrawal from the Commonwealth in October 2016 in dissent at global feedback of its records in connection to debase and human rights.
