Myth or fact · c. 543-483 BCE (tradition)
Folklore gives the islands a very old human story.
Did you know that Wikipedia cites the Maapanansa chronicle as saying some followers of Prince Vijaya's voyage ended up in the Maldives around 543-483 BC, while folklore holds that the islands have been settled for over 2,500 years.
Sources
Heritage · c. 3rd century BCE
Buddhism shaped the islands for roughly a thousand years.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Buddhism likely reached the Maldives in the third century BC, in the time of Ashoka, and remained predominant for about a millennium, until at least the 12th century.
Sources
Heritage · 205-560 CE (monastery dating)
A Buddhist monastery site was still being noticed in 1599.
Did you know that a monastery at Kaashidhoo has been dated to 205-560 AD, and that the Dutch sailor Frederick de Houtman described Buddhist monasteries and temples there in 1599, when they were likely already in ruins.
Sources
Language · c. 6th-8th centuries
The oldest known Dhivehi writing is cut into coral.
Did you know that the oldest Dhivehi inscription found so far is carved on coral stone and is estimated to date from around the 6th to 8th centuries, long before the copper-plate grants of the 12th and 13th centuries.
Sources
Heritage · 1153 (some sources 1193)
The date and the converter both have rival accounts.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the last Buddhist king, Dhovemi, converted to Islam in 1153 and took the name Sultan Muhammad al Adil, though some copper plates give 1193 and sources differ on who converted him.
Sources
Society · 1195-1196
Copper plates show conversion took decades to enforce.
Did you know that copper plates written in 1195-1196 indicate King Gadanaditya was still trying to force the populace to convert to Islam about forty years after the official conversion, and tried to destroy Buddhist shrines.
Sources
Heritage · c. 1300
An island holds a very old mosque and a possible stupa.
Did you know that Wikipedia's article on Fuvahmulah calls Gen Miskit, built around 1300, the oldest mosque in the Maldives, on an island whose ruin called Fua Mulaku Havitta may be a Buddhist stupa about forty feet high.
Sources
Firsts · 1343-1344
A famous traveller was kept on the islands as judge.
Did you know that Ibn Battuta spent nine months in the Maldives in 1343-1344, far longer than he intended, after islanders made it impossible to leave by ship, and became chief judge and took four wives.
Sources
Economy · 1344
Dozens of ships a year carried Maldivian shell money.
Did you know that Wikipedia's article on the rufiyaa says Ibn Battuta observed in 1344 that more than forty ships loaded with cowries were exported each year, part of what it calls the largest shell-currency trade network in history.
Sources
Society · 1347-c. 1380
A medieval traveller marvelled at a female ruler.
Did you know that Ibn Battuta wrote that 'one of the wonders of these islands is that its ruler is a woman named Khadija', who reigned in three separate periods between 1347 and about 1380.
Sources
Language · 1479
Thaana's earliest traces are carved on gravestones.
Did you know that the earliest form of Thaana, called Gabulhi, appears in inscriptions from early in the 15th century under Sultan Golavahi Nasiruddin, and the earliest surviving dated inscription, from AD 1479, is on a gravestone.
Sources
Society · 1558-1573
A fifteen-year occupation ended in a garrison's defeat.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the Portuguese occupied the Maldives from 1558 to 1573, an interval that ended when Muhammad Thakurufaanu and his brothers killed the garrison and regained independence.
Sources
Heritage · 1573
A national day marks the 1573 victory.
Did you know that Muhammad Thakurufaanu's victory over the Portuguese garrison in 1573 is commemorated in the Maldives as Qaumee Dhuvas, or National Day, and that he ruled for eleven years and six months until his death in 1585.
Sources
Economy · 1648-1687
The first known Maldivian coins were struck in silver.
Did you know that Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, who reigned from 1648 to 1687, introduced the first known Maldivian coins, minted in pure silver in Malé, while silver larin money was imported and traded in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Sources
Heritage · 17th century
The capital island once stood behind fortress walls.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Malé was fortified in the 17th century by Sultan Muhammad Imaduddin, who built walls on its north, east and west sides, and that the old forts and walls were dismantled in 1925-1927.
Sources
Heritage · 1656-1658
The oldest, most ornate mosque is built of coral.
Did you know that Hukuru Miskiy, the Friday Mosque in Malé, was finished in 1658 under Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I, is built mainly of coral stone, and was added to the tentative UNESCO World Heritage list in 2008.
Sources
Myth or fact · before 1705
Nobody can say for sure who invented Thaana.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the modern Thaana script was invented sometime before 1705, possibly as early as the 16th century, and that the article finds no evidence for the oral tradition crediting Sultan Thakurufaanu with it.
Sources
Society · 16 December 1887
A single contract put the islands under British protection.
Did you know that on 16 December 1887 the Sultan of the Maldives signed a contract with the British Governor of Ceylon that, according to Wikipedia, turned the Maldives into a British-protected state.
Sources
Firsts · 22 December 1932
A 1932 constitution already listed basic rights.
Did you know that the Maldives' first written constitution was ratified on 22 December 1932, with 92 articles including a bill of rights covering equality before the law, protection from torture and freedom of expression.
Sources
Heritage · August 1941
A wartime coral airstrip became a civilian airport.
Did you know that Royal Marines engineers began building airstrips from crushed coral on Gan, the southernmost island of Addu Atoll, in August 1941, and that the site later became Gan International Airport.
Sources
Language · 1947-1948
The national currency's name means 'wrought silver'.
Did you know that rufiyaa banknotes, equal in value to the rupee, were introduced in 1947 and entered circulation on 5 September 1948, and that the currency's name comes from the Sanskrit rupya, meaning 'wrought silver'.
Sources
Firsts · 1953
The first president lasted only eight months.
Did you know that Mohamed Amin Didi, the first president of the Maldives, held office from 1 January 1953 until his overthrow that year (21 August or 2 September, depending on the page), and led what Wikipedia calls the country's first political party.
Sources
Society · 1959-1963 (infobox says 1958)
A breakaway southern republic lasted only a few years.
Did you know that Wikipedia says the southern atolls of Addu, Huvadhu and Fuvahmulah broke away in 1959 as the United Suvadive Republic, using the pound sterling, until its president Abdulla Afeef was flown to the Seychelles on 30 September 1963.
Sources
Heritage · 1960-1966
Residents built the runway that became the main airport.
Did you know that Hulhule Airport opened on 19 October 1960 with a steel-sheet runway, and that Malé residents later built an asphalt runway that Ibrahim Nasir opened on 12 April 1966.
Sources
Firsts · 26 July 1965
Independence and UN membership came within two months.
Did you know that the Maldives gained independence from the United Kingdom on 26 July 1965 and became a United Nations member on 21 September 1965, under Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir.
Sources
Society · 15 March and 11 November 1968
A referendum ended an 853-year-old monarchy.
Did you know that a referendum on 15 March 1968 backed a republic, declared on 11 November 1968 and ending a monarchy that Wikipedia calls 853 years old, with a yes vote given as 81.23 percent in one article and 93.34 percent in another.
Sources
Economy · 1972
Tourism began with two resorts and 280 beds.
Did you know that tourism in the Maldives began in 1972 with just two resorts and about 280 beds, and that Kurumba Island Resort is described as the first resort opened in the country.
Sources
Economy · 1974
Fishing boats gained engines in 1974.
Did you know that engines became available for private fishing vessels in 1974, and Wikipedia lists the mechanisation of the fisheries industry among Ibrahim Nasir's achievements as president.
Sources
Society · 1 April 1976
A Cold War base returned and a Soviet request failed.
Did you know that the RAF handed Gan, with its airfield, back to the Maldivian government on 1 April 1976, and that in 1977 the Soviet Union requested use of the airbase but was denied.
Sources
Sport · 27 August 1979
The national team's first match was a 9-0 defeat.
Did you know that the Maldives' first recorded international football match was a 9-0 loss to Seychelles at Saint-Pierre, Reunion, on 27 August 1979, and that its highest FIFA ranking is 124, reached in 2006.
Sources
Records · 1986-2006
The capital island's population multiplied five times in 19 years.
Did you know that Wikipedia says Malé's shallow lagoon had been reclaimed by 1986 and that the capital's population had reached about 100,000 by 2006, on an island that once covered under a square mile.
Sources
Society · 3 November 1988
Indian paratroopers reached Malé within nine hours of the call.
Did you know that on 3 November 1988 between 100 and 200 mercenaries arrived by sea in Malé, and that Indian paratroopers who flew non-stop about 3,707 kilometres from Agra reached Hulhule within nine hours of the president's appeal.
Sources
Sport · 1988
Seven sprinters carried the Olympic debut.
Did you know that the Maldives debuted at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul with seven athletes, all in athletics, led by sprinter Hussein Haleem as first flag bearer, and as of 2024 it has won no Olympic medals.
Sources
Science · 1988
A catastrophe warning came from the islands in 1988.
Did you know that in 1988 Maldivian officials warned that a sea-level rise of 20 to 30 centimetres in the next 20 to 40 years could be catastrophic, one of the earliest warnings quoted in Wikipedia's article on the country.
Sources
Records · 16 October 1997
A lagoon was turned into a city of 65,000.
Did you know that reclamation of Hulhumalé began on 16 October 1997 on the lagoon off Malé, and by the 2022 census the 4 square kilometre island held 65,714 people, with 240,000 planned.
Sources
Science · 26 December 2004
Reefs and deep channels softened the 2004 tsunami.
Did you know that when the Indian Ocean tsunami hit on 26 December 2004 the highest Maldivian wave measured 4 metres at Vilufushi, and Wikipedia credits the much smaller impact than in Sri Lanka mostly to the atolls' topography.
Sources
Society · 7 August 2008
The 2008 constitution created independent commissions.
Did you know that the current Maldivian constitution was ratified on 7 August 2008, took effect immediately, replaced the 1998 one, and sets up independent commissions for the judiciary, elections and fighting corruption.
Sources
Firsts · 11 November 2008
The first multiparty presidential vote ended a long era.
Did you know that Mohamed Nasheed won the second round of the Maldives' first multiparty presidential election in 2008 with about 54 percent of the vote, beating Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and was sworn in on 11 November 2008.
Sources
Sport · 2008 and 2018
The national team beat India in two regional finals.
Did you know that the Maldives won the SAFF Championship in 2008, beating India 1-0 in the final, and won it again in 2018, again defeating India in the final.
Sources
Firsts · 17 October 2009
A cabinet met underwater to draw climate attention.
Did you know that on 17 October 2009 President Nasheed presided over what Wikipedia calls the world's first underwater cabinet meeting, off Girifushi, with ministers in scuba gear, as part of a 350.org climate campaign.
Sources
Society · March 2009
A carbon-neutral pledge was later softened.
Did you know that in March 2009 President Nasheed pledged to make the Maldives carbon neutral within a decade, a goal that by 2017 the government under Abdulla Yameen had shifted to becoming a low-carbon country.
Sources
Economy · 2009
Tourists were allowed to stay on local islands from 2009.
Did you know that local island guesthouses began appearing in the Maldives in 2009, after regulations officially allowed tourists to stay among the local population, outside the resort-island model.
Sources
Nature · June 2011
Up to a hundred mantas can feed in one bay.
Did you know that Baa Atoll was designated a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in June 2011, and that up to one hundred manta rays can gather at its Hanifaru Bay when tides carry plankton in.
Sources
Records · 2015
Visitors in 2015 outnumbered residents more than twice over.
Did you know that Wikipedia reports 1.2 million tourists visited the Maldives in 2015, more than twice the 515,132 residents counted in the 2022 census, with the arrivals table putting 2016 at 1,286,135.
Sources
Nature · 2016
Bleaching hit about 60 percent of the reefs in 2016.
Did you know that the 2016 coral bleaching event affected about 60 percent of Maldivian reefs, in a country that Wikipedia says holds about 3 percent of the world's coral reefs.
Sources
Heritage · 1 January 2017
The airport's new name came from a family house.
Did you know that the airport at Hulhule was rebranded Velana International Airport on 1 January 2017, a name taken from President Ibrahim Nasir's family house, and its 3,400 metre runway built to serve larger aircraft began scheduled use in October 2022.
Sources
Firsts · 30 August-7 September 2018
The first inter-island bridge is 1.39 kilometres long.
Did you know that the Sinamale Bridge links Male, Hulhule and Hulhumale, is 1.39 kilometres long, cost US$210 million, and is described by Wikipedia as the first inter-island bridge in the Maldives, opened in 2018.
Sources
Geography ·
Counts of the islands vary even within one article.
Did you know that Wikipedia describes the Maldives as 1,192 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls, though it gives 1,190 and 1,196 elsewhere, and says only about 200 islands are inhabited.
Sources
Records ·
The highest natural point is only 2.4 metres.
Did you know that the Maldives is called the world's lowest-lying country, with a highest natural point of only 2.4 metres and average ground elevation of about 1.5 metres, though some sources give 5.1 metres for Mount Villingili.
Sources
Geography ·
Almost ninety-nine percent of the country is sea.
Did you know that the Maldives has only 298 square kilometres of land spread over about 90,000 square kilometres of sea, on a submarine ridge 960 kilometres long, with no island longer than eight kilometres.
Sources
Language ·
English borrowed 'atoll' from a Maldivian word.
Did you know that Dhivehi is closely related to Sinhala, has 504,829 native speakers (2022), and gave English the words 'atoll' and 'dhoni', anglicised forms of atolu and doni.
Sources
Language ·
Many Thaana letters began as numerals.
Did you know that Thaana is written right to left like Arabic, its first nine letters derive from Arabic numerals and the next nine from local Indic numerals, and vowels are marked by five diacritic strokes.
Sources
Economy ·
The islands supplied shell money to much of the world.
Did you know that the Maldives was the main source of the cowrie shells used as money across Asia and parts of the East African coast, in what Wikipedia calls the largest shell-currency trade network in history.
Sources
Economy ·
Smoked tuna that keeps indefinitely was an export.
Did you know that Maldive fish is tuna that is gutted, boiled, smoked and sun-dried, keeps indefinitely without refrigeration, and was once among the main exports to Sri Lanka, with a thick by-product called rihaakuru.
Sources
Culture ·
Coconut, tuna and starch are the cuisine's foundation.
Did you know that Maldivian cuisine rests on coconuts, fish and starches, with skipjack tuna the usual choice, garudhiya broth called the national dish, and mas huni, a tuna and coconut mixture, eaten at breakfast.
Sources
Culture ·
Coconut-wood drums drive a dance that can end in trance.
Did you know that boduberu, the Maldives' 'big drum' music, is performed by about 20 people including three drummers and a lead singer, with coconut-wood drums, a scraped bamboo onugandu, and dancing that sometimes ends in trance.
Sources
Economy ·
Tourism rests on a rule: one island, one resort.
Did you know that Wikipedia says tourism accounts for 28 percent of Maldivian GDP and over 60 percent of foreign exchange receipts, and that its unique condition is that one island is one resort.
Sources
Geography ·
A single-island atoll hides lakes lower than its edges.
Did you know that Fuvahmulah is a one-island atoll with two freshwater lakes, remnants of a former saltwater lagoon, and an interior lower than its edges because coral boulders closed the lagoon's channel.
Sources
Nature ·
Over 2,000 fish species swim; land mammals are scarce.
Did you know that Maldivian waters hold over 2,000 fish species and three turtle species, while the islands have very few land mammals and only two native flying fox species.
Sources