Maldives – from island sultanate to an independent republic in the ocean
The Maldives were settled more than two thousand years ago by seafarers from South Asia. Over centuries, travellers and traders from across the Indian Ocean stopped at the islands, which were famous for cowrie shells used as currency across Asia and Africa. For a long time Buddhism was the dominant faith, as archaeological remains of stupas and monasteries show.
According to tradition, the Maldivians converted to Islam in 1153, and the islands became a sultanate that would last for centuries. In the sixteenth century the Portuguese occupied Malé for about fifteen years, until Muhammad Thakurufaanu and his companions drove them out, an event still celebrated as a national holiday. Later the Maldives came under the protection of the Dutch in Ceylon and, from 1887, became a British protectorate, while keeping its own sultan and internal self-rule.
The Maldives gained full independence on 26 July 1965 and, after a referendum, the sultanate was abolished and a republic established in 1968. From 1978 Maumoon Abdul Gayoom governed the country for three decades. A new constitution in 2008 introduced multi-party elections. Tourism, which began in the 1970s, transformed the economy, while the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused great destruction.
Today the Maldives are shaped by their island life and seafaring traditions, their Islamic heritage and the pressing challenge of rising sea levels.
Do you have memories or family stories from your island? Share them with other members in the Local History section.