The Maldives Islands (not to be confused with the Falkland Islands) are beautiful islands located in the Indian Ocean to the southwest of Sri Lanka and India, south of Asia and located around 450 km south of the Deccan Peninsula. It is a country (The Republic of the Maldives) made up of no more and no less than 1,196 islands , of which only 203 are inhabited.
Its name is due to the derivation in Sanskrit, in which ‘bad’ means ‘thousands’ and ‘diva’, ‘island’. In short, ‘thousands of islands’.
The climate is moderate and humid tropical and rainfall usually reaches 2000 mm per year. The climate of the Maldives is determined by the monsoon system typical of certain tropical and equatorial regions. There are two important periods: the winter "dry" monsoon season (iruvai) that blows from the northeast from November to March, which is the cooler season; and the wet summer monsoon season (hulhangu) that blows from the southwest from May to November.
The Maldives is a presidential republic , that is, the president is the head of government and of state. This is chosen every 5 years through the secret vote of parliament and a subsequent referendum.
The Maldives hold the curious record of being the flattest country in the world , with a maximum altitude of just 2 meters on Vilingili Island. Although several reports indicate the danger of a possible rise in sea level, the truth is that it has dropped in recent years.
The main activity on which people live is fishing . Since 1974 it has been mechanized and this has helped to increase its weight in the percentage of the country’s GDP . The sale of stamps for collectors and tourism are also important sources of income for the Maldives.
The official language is Dhivehi (the script is called Thaana), an Indo-European language related to Sinhala, the official language of Sri Lanka. The thaana writing system is from right to left. English is widely used for commerce and increasingly is a medium of instruction in government schools.
Other data of interest
Most populous city: Malé, with 82,000 inhabitants
Capital: Male
Official language: dhivehi
Currency: Rufiyaa (Rf, MVR) = 100 laari
Internet domain: .mv
Area code : +960
Member of: SAARC, Commonwealth, UN