Introduction

Any understanding of the modern Maldivian people and their culture must take into account the unique combination of geography and history which is the basis of their national identity.

Like a low wall on the middle of the Indian Ocean, the Maldives are an 820 km chain of coral atolls perched atop an undersea mountain range known as the Chagos Laccadive Ridge which extends from north to south off the west coast of India into the southern hemisphere in the central Indian Ocean.

Atoll edge from the air (11k)
Atoll edge from the air (43k)
Atoll edge from the air (40k)

The most northern Maldivian atoll, Haa Alifu, is 600 km south-west of the Indian mainland. Centrally located Malé, the capital island , is a similar distance south-west of Sri Lanka. The climate is hot, sunny and very humid with regular heavy rain of about 100 inches a year. Humidity in the capital Malé averages 70-75%, while down on the southern atolls along the equator it is often over 85% on a clear day.

On the islands, ground level never exceeds three metres, and the lagoons are warm and easily navigated saltwater lakes. Sometimes gaps in the reef leave narrow navigable channels, kandu, giving access from the lagoon into the open sea. On the sandy islands, rainwater collects beneath the porous surface and forms a lens of fresh water easily tapped by shallow wells. Coconut, banana, breadfruit, papaya, lime, and taro thrive.

Coconuts and banana plants, Addu atoll (56k)

The northern and central atolls form a barely navigable barrier for ships travelling west « east across the Indian Ocean, but the southern atolls are separated from their northern neighbours by two very wide and deep ocean gaps, the One and half degree channel between Laamu atoll and Huvadhu, and the Equatorial channel which separates Huvadhu from Fua Mulaku and then Addu. South of Addu, there are 400 km of deep ocean until the Chagos Archipelago.