Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0234/02345.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 29KB | 470 lines

$Unique_ID{COW02345}
$Pretitle{354E}
$Title{Maldives
Chapter 1A.   Maldives}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Rinn-Sup Shinn}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{male
percent
maldives
atolls
island
government
islands
british
population
schools}
$Date{1983}
$Log{National Emblem*0234501.scf
Figure 15.*0234502.scf
Table 5*0234501.tab
}
Country:     Maldives
Book:        Indian Ocean Countries, An Area Study: Maldives
Author:      Rinn-Sup Shinn
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1983

Chapter 1A.   Maldives

[See National Emblem: Nation Emblem of Maldives]

[See Table 5: Country Profile for Maldives]

[See Figure 15.: Maldives Source: Based on information from World Bank, South
Asia Regional Office, The Maldives: An Introductory Economic Report,
Washington, 1980, p.i; and Asia 1981 Yearbook, Hong Kong, 1981, p. 197.]

     Maldives is an isolated, little-known nation and is among the smallest
and poorest countries in the world. Its nearest neighbors are Sri Lanka and
India; the island country has had cultural and economic ties with both
through centuries. Although under Portuguese, Dutch, and British influences
after the sixteenth century, the Maldivians were left alone to govern
themselves under a long line of sultans and occasionally sultanas. They
became fully independent from the British in 1965, but the latter continued
to maintain an air base on the island of Gan in the southernmost atoll of
Seenu until 1976, when they withdrew from Gan as part of budgetary
retrenchment. The British departure almost immediately triggered foreign
speculation about the future of the air base, especially in the context of
superpower rivalry for strategic influence in the Indian Ocean region. The
Republic of Maldives, astride lines of communication in the northern Indian
Ocean, was aware of its strategic potential to the United States or the
Soviet Union but opted for a foreign policy of nonalignment and for friendly
relations with all nations. The greatest challenge facing the republic in
1982 was how to bring about economic development and modernize the country
within the shortest possible time, given a very limited, narrow resource base.
The country was making a serious effort to meet the challenge under the
presidency of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who in assuming power in November 1978
pledged a more open, responsive government.

Physical Environment

     Maldives is an archipelago of 1,201 tiny coral islands grouped into
nineteen atolls or clusters for administrative purposes. It extends 820
kilometers in a north-south direction and measures 130 kilometers at its
widest east-west point. Situated 644 kilometers southwest of Sri Lanka and
roughly the same distance from the southern tip of India, the islands are
flat, only rarely rising 1.5 meters above sea level. Most of them are
patches of coral or small sandbanks. The total land area of the islands
is 298 square kilometers, roughly twice the size of the District of Columbia.
Only 202 of the islands are inhabited.

     The islands are covered with tropical vegetation, groves of breadfruit
trees and coconut palms towering above dense scrub, shrubs and flowers. The
soil is sandy, highly alkaline, and deficient in nitrogen, potash, and iron,
and thus agricultural potential is severely limited. The climate is hot and
humid; it divides into the dry season associated with the northeast monsoon,
from December to March, and the rainy season brought by the southwest monsoon,
May to August.

     Fourteen of the nineteen atolls have lagoons that afford anchorages for
small vessels. East-west passage through the island chain is provided by a
number of deep channels. Uncharted and unmarked reefs pose a hazard to boats
traveling between islands, especially at night. Most modern cargo vessels,
including the large oil tankers bound for Japan, pass through Eight Degree
Channel between the northern extremity of Maldives and India's Minicoy
Island in the Laccadive Sea (see fig. 15). Sailing craft are the primary
means of intra-island or intra-atoll transport, whereas motorized boats,
which are increasing in number, are used for inter-atoll traffic. Much of
the traffic is between Male and the atolls. There are no scheduled services,
and local transport is usually arranged individually with boat owners or
fishermen. Male was declared a free port in 1967 and is linked to the port of
Colombo in Sri Lanka through shipping services arranged on an irregular basis
depending on cargo and needs. Male can be reached also by scheduled
airlines-Maldives International Airlines, Air Lanka, and Indian Airlines;
the airport is located on Hulule Island about 1.5 kilometers away.

     There are no urban settlements outside Male, the only town in the nation.
The 1.5 square-kilometer island of Male is congested with 29,520 persons
(at the end of 1977), of whom 40 percent were migrants from other atolls
drawn to the island town for jobs in the construction and services sectors
and for access to Male's good educational and health care facilities. Male
is laid out geometrically. Roads are built on crushed coral bases and
surfaced with sand. The sturdier buildings are constructed of crushed coral
and lime mortar with tile roofs, and coral walls-once an exclusive symbol
of the nobility-enclose the compound of affluent houses. Poorer housing
utilizes palm thatch with tin roofs. Newer houses have broad verandas. There
are many mosques-one at almost every street corner. Electricity is provided
by nine government-operated diesel generators. Most people travel by bicycle
or on foot. As of 1978 there were about 150 motor vehicles and over 300
motorcycles. The water supply system is inadequate, and the water is unsafe
to drink without boiling. The bulk of the residents, as elsewhere in the
atolls, depend on groundwater or rainwater for drinking purposes, but because
of the lack of sewage facilities the water is usually polluted. Facilities
for social services in other atolls are far less adequate in comparison with
those for Male, but efforts were under way in recent years to narrow the gap
between the capital town and other islands.

Historical Setting

     Maldivian origins remain obscure. Written accounts of the islands
appeared from time to time in Arab travelogues between the ninth and twelfth
centuries, but these do not shed much light on the evolution of the Maldivian
society. Based on the physical and cultural characteristics of present-day
Maldivians, it is generally believed that the archipelago was inhabited by
Dravidian and Sinhalese peoples from south India and Ceylon (present-day Sri
Lanka) as early as the fifth century B.C. Over the centuries the islanders
came in contact with traders from the Arab world, Madagascar, Malaya,
Indonesia, and China.

     The most significant contact with the outside world took place in 1153
when an itinerant Muslim holy man converted the Maldivians to Islam. The
advent of this faith resulted in a systematic effacement of Buddhism, which
had been the dominant religion of the islanders. Islam has remained the
state religion of the society since the twelfth century. The Maldivians belong
to the Sunni branch of Islam, the larger of the two main branches of the
faith. Sunnis, from the Arabic sunnah (custom), adhere closely to ancient
Arab customs, believing that their religious practices conform to the custom
of the Prophet Muhammad.

     The first Europeans to "discover" Maldives were Portuguese who landed
there in 1507 and who, in 1558, occupied the islands and administered them
from their enclave Goa, on the west coast of India, until they were driven
out fifteen years later in a popular revolt. In the mid-seventeenth century
the Dutch, who had replaced the Portuguese as the dominant power in Sri Lanka,
established hegemony over Maldivian affairs without involving themselves
directly in local matters. The decline of the Dutch was foretold in 1796 when
they were expelled from Ceylon by the British. In 1887 Maldives became a
British protectorat