GEOGRAPHY OF THE MALDIVES
The Maldives is an archipelago of 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls (200 inhabited islands, plus 80 islands with tourist resorts). According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Maldives is the world's flattest and lowest lying country. At one time the highest point was two and half meters (six to eight feet) above sea level, depending on the tide, According to the C.I.A. World Factbook, for a long time the highest point in the Maldives was an unnamed hummock in the Addu Atoll. Now a tee at a golf course is higher (See Below). In any case about 80 percent of the land of the Maldives is one meter (three feet) above sea level or less at high tide.
The Maldives is the smallest Asian country. It’s islands Maldives are located off the coast of South Asia in the North Indian Ocean. The southern part of the archipelago straddles the equator, which makes it part of the Eastern, Northern, and Southern Hemispheres.
Located between 500 kilometers and 1,300 kilometers (300 and 800 miles) off the southwest coast of India and about 650 kilometers (400 miles) west-south west of Sri Lanka, the Maldives is a string-like archipelago of coral islands that extends for about 823 kilometers (510 miles) from north to south, with a width of about 130 (60 miles). The islands are strategically located astride and along major sea lanes in Indian Ocean, which caught the attention of China. The Maldives has some fine white sand beaches and beautiful lagoons with crystal blue water. The islands with airports tend to be long, with the ocean lapping on both sides of the runway.
The islands of the Republic of Maldives extend in a chain 820 kilometers (510 miles) from north to south but only occupies an area of 298 square kilometers (just 115 square miles), roughly 1.7 times the size of Washington D.C. The closest neighbors are India and Sri Lanka. The Maldives are 723 kilometers southwest of of the southern tip of India; 2800 kilometers south of Delhi; 850 kilometers southwest of Colombo, Sri Lanka and 3,400 kilometers west of Singapore. Geographic coordinates of the Maldives: 3°15 N, 73°00 E, stretching stretch from 0°S to 7° 0 N, with Minicoy at 8° 2 . Longitude is about 73° E.
The Maldives Area: total: 298 square kilometers (115 square miles). Of this 298 square kilometers is land and none is water. Compared with other countries in the world, the Maldives ranks 210th in size. The Maldives has no land boundaries: It has a coastline of 644 kilometers (400 miles). Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nautical miles; exclusive economic zone (EEZ): 200 nautical miles; contiguous zone: 24 nautical miles. Terrain: flat; mean elevation: 2 meters. The lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 meters. The highest point — five meters — is the 8th tee of the golf course on Villingi Island. The Maldives has no territories or dependencies. [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020 =]
Islands of the Maldives
The islands and atolls of the Maldives are scattered across nearly 90,000 square kilometers (34,750 square miles) of ocean. As of 2004, 202 islands are inhabited and another 87 islands had been developed with tourist resorts and another 12 had been just auctioned off by the government for hotels. Some islands are so low they disappear during high tide. Others become connect with neighboring during low tide. The largest are less than a mile wide. Most islands are less than a square mile. Most of the inhabited ones have only a few hundred people. Some are smaller than a football field. Few have sea walls and many have a single purpose. One is a trash dump. Another s for oil storage, Another holds the prison.
The islands themselves are small, low and flat. Most are less than a kilometer long. Only nine are two kilometers long or longer. Many can be walked around in less than half an hour. No natural place on any of the islands is higher than 2½ meters (eight six feet) above sea level at high tide. Maliku is the largest island. It is 16½ kilometers long and lies 140 kilometers north of the Maldives proper and is politically isolated from the other islands. The northernmost atoll lies some 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of India's Minicoy Atoll, about 480 kilometers (300 miles) southeast of of India's Cape Comorin, and 650 kilometers (400 miles) w of Sri Lanka.
Most of the 1,190 islands are part are part of a double chain of 26 atolls which are grouped together into 21 administrative areas. Atolls are groups of coral islands that developed on flat-topped volcanic sea mounts that rose above the sea and sunk under the weight of the coral reefs that grew around the fringes of the mountain. Classic atolls islands are narrow and flat, and grouped around a central lagoon. See Below
Malé is the capital and the name of largest island on which it is located. The island Malé is was about is about two kilometers long and 800 meters wide and is largest island in the Maldives. The surface area of Male was doubled in size but has now reached it natural limitation as it has been built out to a fringing coral reef. Wikipedia lists the Malé urban area as 1.95 square kilometers (0.75 square miles) and the metro area, which includes Hulhulé and Hulhumalé, as 9.27 square kilometers (3.58 square miles). The elevation is 2.4 meter (7.9 feet). The population was recorded as 133,412 in 2014 but was estimated to be 227,486 in 2020, giving it a density 23,002 people per square kilometers (59,570 people per square mile) and making to home to more than half of the Maldives’s population. The population of Malé was 75,000 in 2004, 68,000 in 2000 and 55,000 in 1995. Hulhumale, a manmade island a short distance from Malé, is expected to be expanded to twice the size of Malé by about 2040. Malé is located at 3̊15' N latitude and 73̊0'E longitude.
Maldives Atolls
The word atoll is of Maldivian origin. It comes from Divehi word “atholhu. Composed of live coral reefs and sand bars, these atolls are situated atop a submarine ridge 960 kilometers long that rises abruptly from the depths of the Indian Ocean and runs from north to south. Only near the southern end of this natural coral barricade do two open passages permit safe ship navigation from one side of the Indian Ocean to the other through the territorial waters of Maldives. For administrative purposes the Maldives government organized these atolls into 21 administrative divisions.[Source: Helen Chapin Metz, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
Most atolls consist of a large, ring-shaped coral reef supporting numerous small islands. Islands average only one to two square kilometers in area, and lie between one and 1.5 meters above mean sea level. The highest island is situated at three meters above sea level. Maldives has no hills or rivers. Although some larger atolls are approximately fifty kilometers long from north to south, and thirty kilometers wide from east to west, no individual island is longer than eight kilometers.*
Each atoll has approximately five to ten inhabited islands; the uninhabited islands of each atoll number approximately twenty to sixty. Several atolls, however, consist of one large, isolated island surrounded by a steep coral beach. The most notable example of this type of atoll is the large island of Fua Mulaku situated in the middle of the Equatorial Channel. The largest atoll group is the Malé Atoll, where the capital city, Malé and Malé island are located. *
Atolls
An atoll is a group of islands that encircle a central lagoon. Classic atolls develop on the top guyots, flat-topped volcanic sea mounts, that rise above the sea and then erode and sink under the weight of the coral reefs that grow on their slopes.
A classic atolls begins as a reef that forms around a high island. As the island sinks under the weight of the coral reef, the coral reef grows upwards causing the island to sink even more. This process eventually forms a barrier reef which is separated from the shore by a shallow lagoon. Eventually the original mountain becomes completely submerged and islands are created from the coral and sand deposits that accumulate on the highest points of the reef. These islands often roughly follow the contour of the original mountain top. The atoll-making process takes hundreds of thousands or millions of years.
A classic atoll is oval shaped. Most atolls have a lagoon sheltered by the barrier reef and islands with a small break or channel that allows boats to enter the lagoon. Sea grass beds are found along with reefs in the protected waters of the lagoons. The lagoons of some atolls are so large that it is difficult to see all the islands from any particular point. Their atoll shape is only visible from the air. Mountainous islands tend to be younger than developed atolls.
Atoll islands are usually narrow, long, flat and sandy. Most are uninhabited and many go unvisited for months or even years at a time. Around the sheltered sides of islands fringing reefs or mangroves often located right at the shore. The top of the reef is typically fairly shallow. Below the sea floor may be 10 meters deep or so. In some places there are walls or drop offs, where the reef suddenly gives way to deep ocean water. These walls are often teeming with life and are popular with scuba divers.
Topography of the Maldives
The islands of the Maldives vary from tiny shoals to bonafide islands. Some are in process of formation and are constantly increasing in size; others are gradually being washing away. The islands are level and extremely low-lying, with elevations rarely exceeding 1.8 meters (6 feet) above sea level. Many contain saltwater lagoons. Fua Mulaku is the only island in the Maldives with freshwater lakes.[Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007; “Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography”, The Gale Group, Inc., 2003]
According to “Geo-Data”: Four ocean channels cross through the archipelago from east to west. These are the Kardiva Channel, Veimandu Channel, One and a Half Degree Channel, and Equatorial Channel. A protective, fringing coral reef surrounds each island, and many islands have lagoons. Small patch reefs and faroes (unusual ring-shaped reefs) are located in Malé Atoll's lagoon. White coral sand covers Maldives's flat beaches, and there is no trace of yellow or black coloring in the sand, as there is on other beaches in the world.[Source: “Geo-Data: The World Geographical Encyclopedia”, 2003]
All the islands have coastal reefs but otherwise there are few topographical features. There are no significant deserts, rolling terrain, hills, valleys, mountains, volcanoes, canyons, caves or plateaus. The islands of are too small to support inland lakes or rivers of any significant size. Highest elevation of a while was a 2.4 meters (7.8 feet) unnamed location on Wilingil Island
In 1997, the Maldives launched a massive land reclamation project which involved the construction of a manmade island, Hulhumale, a short distance away from Malé. In 2004, the new island was about the same size as Malé. The plan is for it be home to about 150,000 people and be twice the size of Malé by 2040.
Vegetation and Land Use on the Maldives Islands
Most of the Maldive islands support only a few species of plant because there is little topsoil and this soil has a high salt content. Most of the islands have delightful white coral sand beaches with a fringe of coconut palms. Dense scrub covers the islands. The central islands are less fertile than the northern and southern groups, and the western islands are less fertile than the eastern ones. There are no thick jungles but small areas of rainforest exist on the larger islands that receive significant precipitation. Coconut, plantain, banyan, mango trees and some flowers and shrubs do well the Maldives’s climate. [Source: “Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of Physical Geography”, The Gale Group, Inc., 2003]
Land use: use: agricultural land: 23.3 percent, of which about 10 percent is arable land, 10 percent is with permanent crops and 3.3 percent is permanent pasture. Forest about 3 percent of the island. Other (sand, mangroves, water) covers 73.7 percent. There is no irrigated land. Coconut wood, however, is used for building boats and houses. Imports of forest products was $4.2 million in 2004.(2011 estimated). [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020; “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
The tropical vegetation of Maldives comprises groves of breadfruit trees and coconut palms towering above dense scrub, shrubs, and flowers. The soil is sandy and highly alkaline, and a deficiency in nitrogen, potash, and iron severely limits agricultural potential. Ten percent of the land, or about 2,600 hectares, is cultivated with taro, bananas, coconuts, and other fruit. Only the lush island of Fua Mulaku produces fruits such as oranges and pineapples partly because the terrain of Fua Mulaku is higher than most other islands, leaving the groundwater less subject to seawater penetration. [Source: Helen Chapin Metz, Library of Congress, 1994]
Freshwater in the Maldives
Fresh water is scarce in the Maldives. It floats in a layer, or "lens," above the seawater that permeates the limestone and coral sands of the islands. These lenses are shrinking rapidly on Male and on many islands where there are resorts catering to foreign tourists. Mango trees already have been reported dying on Male because of salt penetration. Most residents of the atolls depend on groundwater or rainwater for drinking purposes. Concerns over global warming and a possible long-term rise in sea level as a result of the melting of polar ice are important issues to the fragile balance between the people and the environment of Maldives in the 1990s. [Source: Helen Chapin Metz, Library of Congress, 1994 *]
Most places rely on thin natural aquifers. The Coca-Cocoa bottling plant in Male uses desalinated water (the result is Coke that is sweeter than the Coke in the States). Male has little ground water. What little it has is polluted. Sewage treatment is inadequate.
Ismail Humaam Hamid wrote in the Maldives Independent: “Unlike in Malé, where the groundwater is heavily polluted due to over-consumption, islanders in atolls used to rely on groundwater for consumption. However, thanks to a rapid population increase and the arrival of appliances such as washing machines, groundwater consumption in the islands has increased above the rate at which groundwater is naturally replenished. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami heavily polluted many islands’ fresh water table, lying one to 1.5 meters below the soil surface. [Source: Ismail Humaam Hamid, Maldives Independent, April 8, 2015]
“A United Nations Environmental Programme tsunami impact study in 2005 estimated that only 39 islands’ groundwater had been suitable for drinking even before the tsunami. Environmental consultant and water expert Fathimath Saeedha pointed out that poorly constructed septic tanks in the islands have contributed to water contamination. “People built septic tanks on their own, which led to domestic waste leaking into the water table,” said Saeedha. With the groundwater contaminated, inhabitants then had to rely on rainwater for consumption. In 2005, the government provided islands with large numbers of storage tanks to store rainwater. However, with low average rainfall during the dry season, numerous islands are left in a drought every year, forced to rely on the disaster centre for drinking water.”
Life on the Dispersed Islands of the Maldives
About a third of the population of the Maldives — maybe even half — lives in the centrally located capital city of Male and almost a tenth in southern Addu City. The remainder of Maldive population is scattered over the 200 or so populated islands of the archipelago that extend 850 kilometers (550 miles) across the equator. The geographical characteristics of this dispersed island nation require the dispersion of educational facilities across inhabited atolls and islands and the use of boats for transportation between them. Basic services are often expensive and people are often poor, getting by on what they can obtain from their environment.
Male is the only city. The islands that are inhabited are mostly the largest ones and the ones with the best fishing. They are grouped into 19 administrative atolls. Individual islands serve as social and administrative units. Everyone is officially registered on their home island. They can not change residence to a new island until they have lived there for 12 years. Islanders are often partial to their home island: insisting it has the best land, best fishing and best people. Island identity is very strong. Marriages generally take place between couples that are from the same island because island rivalry is so strong it is considered sort of treasonous to marry someone from a different island. Residents of one island often don't like other islands and it is difficult to move.
The inhabitants of small islands often have little knowledge of the outside world. Some fear strangers. Everybody knows everybody in their island world. There is little that is new. A disproportionate share of government expenditures goes directly to Malé and residents there tend to have a much higher standard of living than residents in the atolls, except for those with tourist facilities
The island communities outside Male are in most cases selfcontained economic units, drawing meager sustenance from the sea around them. Islanders are in many instances interrelated by marriage and form a small, tightly knit group whose main economic pursuit is fishing. Apart from the heads of individual households, local influence is exerted by the government appointed island khatib, or chief. Regional control over each atoll is administered by the atolu verin, or atoll chief, and by the gazi, or community religious leader. Boat owners, as employers, also dominate the local economy and, in many cases, provide an informal, but effective, link to Male's power structure.
The education system on the outer atolls is more rudimentary. primary schools are based on the Madhurasaa system. Atoll education centers have been set up on the main islands in each atoll for basic primary education. Parents of children on the other islands can send their children to the main island for school. Some atolls have hostel systems for children from far away islands. Efforts are also being made to set up secondary schools on the atolls, Distance educational courses and educational programs on the radio and the internet are also provided.
UNICEF estimates that islands with the lowest population still do not have access to secondary school and around 12 islands provide schooling only up to grade five. Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen wrote in the “Encyclopedia of World Cultures”: “On most islands there is little that is new to explore, no new personalities, and no real schooling. Mothers teach children to read and write Divehi, using chalk on little slate boards, for Islamic teaching, and many islands have Little schools attached to the mosques, so almost all Divehis become literate. Many children learn to intone Arabic letters in order to "read" the Quran, although without any understanding. [Source:Clarence Maloney and Nils Finn Munch-Petersen, “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 3: South Asia,” edited by Paul Paul Hockings, 1992]
Geography and Global Warming in the Maldives
If global warming causes the icecaps to melt and the oceans to rise, the Maldives will be one of the first places to go. Already the beaches are noticeably eroded, and there is an increase in severe storms and flooding during tidal swells. The situation in the Maldives is so grave that tourism officials once considered using the slogan “Come see is while we’re still here.”
Global warming and rising sea levels have caused the sea to wash over roads on the coast and contaminating drinking water with salt water. People have been forced to rely on collected rain water and water purified in a desalinization plant imported from Japan at a cost of $200,000. People have to pay for water and supplies are limited.
Infiltration of salt water kills trees and plants. Trees and plants hold the land together and keep it from being washed or blown away. In May 2007, a series of large waves estimated at three to four meters (10 to 12 feet) swamped almost 70 islands in 16 atolls in the Maldives, causing serious flooding and extensive damage.
According to “Geo-Data”: “Because of concerns that rising sea levels may eventually submerge the low-lying islands of Maldives, the government has undertaken programs to prepare for the worst. A six-foot concrete retaining wall, known as the Great Wall of Malé, has been constructed to protect the capital. Even more drastic is the construction of 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) artificial island, Hulhumale off the coast of Malé. With an elevation of 6 feet (2 meter), Hulhumale is about 2 feet (.6 meters) higher than Malé itself. The government plans to use Hulhumale to support the country's population if the other islands become uninhabitable due to flooding. People will be encouraged to settle on Hulhumale when it is completed, even before flooding threatens their homes. Trees and rabbits are already thriving there, and light industry will be established on the island as soon as possible. [Source: “Geo-Data: The World Geographical Encyclopedia”, 2003]
Man-Made Islands in the Maldives
In the Maldives, islands have been significantly enlarged or made from scratch.The surface area of Male was doubled in size but has now reached it natural limitation as it has been built out to a fringing coral reef. Outside the reef the ocean floor drops steeply. In 1997, the Maldives launched a massive land reclamation project which involved the construction of a manmade island, Hulhumale, a short distance away from Malé. In 2004, the new island was about the same size as Malé. The plan is for it be home to about 150,000 people and be twice the size of Malé by 2040.
The Maldives is an importer of sand. It imported about 100,000 tons of river sand, mainly form India, in the mid 2000s and depends on imported sand for all of its construction needs. Much of it arrives in 50-kilogram bags. Transporting it is very expensive. After the tsunami in 2004 it increased its sand imports. See Tsunami
The island of Hulhamle, near Male, was made completely from scratch and is now larger than Male. As of 2004 the island covered 465 acres (188 hectares) and was home to 1,500 people. The plan then was to double the size of the island over the next decade. It was hoped that around 15 percent of the entire population of the Maldives would migrate there by 2020. When the entire is finished around 2040. it is hope that half of the Maldives’ population will move there.
Hulhumale is not a scenic gem like many of the other Maldives islands. As of 2004 it was mostly barren except for a few palm trees that had been imported there. It is joined to Male by a narrow causeway to the island that houses the Maldives’s international airport. The only way to reach Male is by ferry or speed boat.
Atolls and Major Islands of the Maldives
According to “Geo-Data”: The atoll groups, from north to south, are: Ihavandiffulu Atoll, Tiladummati Atoll, Miladummadulu Atoll, North Malosmadulu and South Malosmadulu Atolls, and Fadiffolu Atoll; separated from these atolls by the Kardiva Channel are Malé Atoll, South Malé Atoll, Ari Atoll, Felidu Atoll, Nilandu Atoll, Mulaku Atoll, and Kolumadulu Atoll; further south, separated by the Veimandu Channel is Haddummati Atoll; the One and a Half Degree Channel separates the Suvadiva Atoll; and the Equatorial Channel separates the most southerly atoll, Addu Atoll. [Source: “Geo-Data: The World Geographical Encyclopedia”, 2003]
“All the islands of the Maldives are small, but the island of Malé, location of the capital city, is the most densely populated and developed. It is 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) long and just over one-half mile (1 kilometers) wide. Land reclamation projects have increased the size of Malé, but travelers must use an airport on a neighboring island and then be transported to Malé by boat, since there is not enough room for an airport runway. Sea walls surrounded the island on all sides.
“To the far south in the Maldives lies Addu Atoll, where the town of Seenu is located. The British used these south-lying atolls as an air base during World War II, and undertook some engineering projects during the 1950s following the end of the war. Among these was a causeway connecting Fua Mulaku, Midu, and Hitadu, and Gan islands in the Addu Atoll.
Departments of the Maldives in 1995
Name — Population — Capital
Alifu Alifu — 4,852 — Rasdhoo
Alifu Dhaal — 6,764 — Mahibadhoo
Baa — 10,147 — Eydhafushi
Dhaalu — 5,587 — Kudahuvadhoo
Faafu — 3,573 — Magoodhoo
Gaafu Alifu — 9,453 — Villingili
Gaafu Dhaalu — 15,067 — Thinadhoo
Ghaviyani — 8,034 — Fuvahmulah
Haa Alifu — 15,893 — Dhidhdhoo
Haa Dhaalu — 17,755 — Kulhudhuffushi
Kaafu — 7,855 — Male
Laamu — 11,320 — Fondahoo
Lhaviyani — 9,250 — Naifaru
Malé — 34,583 — Malé
Meemu — 5,543 — Muli
Noonu — 11,457 — Manadhoo
Raa — 15,129 — Ugoofaaru
Seenu — 23,835 — Hithadhoo
Shaviyani — 11,792 — Funadhoo
Thaa — 11,620 — Veymandhoo
Vaavu — 1,823 — Felidhoo
[Source: Census of Population by Locality, 1995, Ministry of Planning and National Development, Maldives.
Local Administration of the Maldives
Administrative divisions: 21 administrative atolls (atholhuthah, singular — atholhu); Addu (Addu City), Ariatholhu Dhekunuburi (South Ari Atoll), Ariatholhu Uthuruburi (North Ari Atoll), Faadhippolhu, Felidhuatholhu (Felidhu Atoll), Fuvammulah, Hahdhunmathi, Huvadhuatholhu Dhekunuburi (South Huvadhu Atoll), Huvadhuatholhu Uthuruburi (North Huvadhu Atoll), Kolhumadulu, Maale (Male), Maaleatholhu (Male Atoll), Maalhosmadulu Dhekunuburi (South Maalhosmadulu), Maalhosmadulu Uthuruburi (North Maalhosmadulu), Miladhunmadulu Dhekunuburi (South Miladhunmadulu), Miladhunmadulu Uthuruburi (North Miladhunmadulu), Mulakatholhu (Mulaku Atoll), Nilandheatholhu Dhekunuburi (South Nilandhe Atoll), Nilandheatholhu Uthuruburi (North Nilandhe Atoll), Thiladhunmathee Dhekunuburi (South Thiladhunmathi), Thiladhunmathee Uthuruburi (North Thiladhunmathi). [Source: CIA World Factbook, 2020]
The political subdivisions used to be 19 atolls and capital city. At that time the islands, which are clustered into 24 natural atolls, were grouped for administrative purposes into 19 atolls, each headed by a government-appointed verin or chief, the equivalent of a district officer who serves as the administrative head of the island. On each inhabited island a khatib, or headman, also appointed by the government, supervises and carries out the orders of the government under the supervision of the atoll chief. Malé and Hulhulé (the island of the international airport) are geographically in Kaafu Atoll, but are treated as a separate administrative entity. [Source: “Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations”, Thomson Gale, 2007]
Local governance is complicated by the diffuse geography of Maldives. The atoll offices and the island offices come under the Ministry of Atoll Administration, which is responsible to the president. The appointed atoll and island chiefs are supposed to be versed in Islamic law. Male is the only city. The islands that are inhabited are mostly the largest ones and the ones with the best fishing. Individual islands serve as social and administrative units. Everyone is officially registered on their home island. They can not change residence to a new island until they have lived there for 12 years. Islanders are often partial to their home island: insisting it has the best land, best fishing and best people.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Republic of Maldives Department of Information, the government site (maldivesinfo.gov.mv), Ministry of Tourism Maldives (tourism.gov.mv), Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC, visitmaldives.com), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022