🇲🇻 Maldives

Buddhism probably reached the Maldives during Emperor Ashoka's expansion and remained dominant until the 12th century. The Maldivian language, early scripts, architecture, ruling institutions and customs all originated in this Buddhist era, giving it foundational importance for national culture.

From the 10th century traders from Basra sailing to Southeast Asia used the Maldives as their first landfall. Trade centred on cowrie shells, used as currency across Asia and East Africa, and on saltwater-resistant coir fibre exported to Sindh, China, Yemen and the Persian Gulf.

Around 947 AD Arab travellers began visiting the islands, marking the start of the Maldives' documented contact with the outside world. This connection embedded the archipelago in Indian Ocean trade networks and prefigured later religious change.

The king's conversion in 1153, traditionally credited to a visiting scholar, ended a Buddhist era of more than a thousand years and initiated six Islamic dynasties that lasted until 1932. Arabic became the language of administration and the Maliki school of jurisprudence was introduced, tying the islands directly to the Arab world, and the sultanate it established endured in various forms for over eight centuries.

Portugal installed a Viador overseeing a factory in the Maldives, run from its main colony at Goa. Attempts to impose Christianity under threat of death provoked local resistance.

Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-A'uẓam, his two brothers and Dhuvaafaru Dhandahele led a guerrilla rising that expelled the Portuguese garrison in 1573, fifteen years after its establishment in 1558, and restored the sultanate. The victory is commemorated annually as Qaumee Dhuvas, National Day, on 1 Rabi' al-Awwal.

Having replaced the Portuguese as the dominant power in Ceylon, the Dutch exercised indirect influence over the Maldives without intervening in local matters. Domestic affairs continued to be governed by centuries-old Islamic customs.

With the Dutch driven from Ceylon, the Maldives passed into the British sphere as a protectorate. This began roughly 170 years of British oversight of the islands' external relations.

Under the 1887 agreement signed by Sultan Muhammad Mueenuddeen II, Britain took control of the Maldives' external relations and defence while the sultan retained home rule under Muslim institutions in exchange for annual tribute. The arrangement, which paralleled other British Indian Ocean protectorates such as Zanzibar and the Trucial States, lasted until independence in 1965.

Britain encouraged a constitutional monarchy after the Sultan's powers passed to the Chief Minister. The new arrangements favoured British-educated reformists rather than either the Sultan or Chief Minister, and mobs were instigated against the Constitution, which was publicly torn up. The sultanate also became elective in this year.

The sultanate was suspended in 1953 and Didi became president of a short-lived republic. Having nationalised the fish export industry as prime minister in the 1940s, he reformed education and advocated women's rights, but conservatives in Malé ousted him and he was beaten by a mob during a food riot and died.

A year after the collapse of the First Republic, the sultanate was restored, perpetuating older forms of rule. The restoration reversed Didi's republican experiment.

Britain regained the use of its wartime airfield in the southernmost atoll, employing hundreds of locals. The base became central to southern Maldivian economic life and to subsequent political disputes.

The new prime minister demanded renegotiation of the Gan airfield arrangement. The move set the government against southern atolls that benefited economically from the British presence.

Atolls benefiting from the British presence at Gan cut ties with Malé and declared an independent state with Abdullah Afeef as president and Hithadhoo as capital. Nasir sent gunboats with government police and the republic was scrapped a year later, with Afeef going into exile.

The government granted the United Kingdom continued use of the facilities for thirty years, with £750,000 paid between 1960 and 1965 for economic development. The base was nevertheless closed in 1976 during the British withdrawal from East of Suez.

Ibrahim Nasir and Sir Michael Walker signed the independence agreement in Colombo on 26 July 1965, formally ending British authority over Maldivian defence and external affairs and the protectorate arrangement in place since 1887. The sultanate continued for three more years under Muhammad Fareed Didi, who declared himself King, and Britain retained its air base at Gan until 1976.

On 15 November 1967 members of parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of becoming a republic rather than continuing as a constitutional monarchy. The decision was put to a national referendum the following year.

The native Giraavaru people, linked in legend to the founding of Malé, were resettled after erosion made their island untenable. The group has since been almost completely assimilated into wider Maldivian society.

Ibrahim Nasir proclaimed the Second Republic on 11 November 1968, ending an 853-year monarchy after the referendum of 15 March 1968 endorsed abolition of the sultanate. Nasir became president under a republican constitution, later amended in 1970, 1972 and 1975, with an elected People's Majlis accompanying the new presidential system.

Kurumba welcomed its first guests on 3 October 1972, launching the resort industry. Tourism transformed the economy, shifting it rapidly from dependence on fisheries; resorts grew from two in 1972 to ninety-two by 2007.

The centre, forerunner of the Faculty of Health Sciences, was the first institution for training health personnel. It began a sequence of technical and professional institutes built up over subsequent decades.

Fitting engines to the traditional fishing boat was a major milestone in developing the fisheries industry. It raised catch capacity in a sector that by 2010 supplied over 15% of GDP and employed around 30% of the workforce.

The centre provided training in mechanical and electrical trades. It formed part of the state's early effort to build a skilled workforce.

Political infighting during the 1970s culminated in Zaki's removal to a remote atoll. The episode marked the narrowing of political competition under Nasir.

The joint venture added processing capacity to the fisheries sector. It came as the market for dried fish, a key export, was collapsing.

The December 1977 census recorded 142,832 people living in the Maldives. The population doubled by 1978 and growth peaked at 3.4% in 1985.

First elected by referendum in 1978 and re-endorsed five times without opposition, Gayoom oversaw the growth of tourism and modernisation of infrastructure alongside tight restrictions on dissent, before losing the country's first multiparty election in 2008.

With his administration faltering after the closure of the Gan airfield and the collapse of the dried fish market, Nasir left the country. His departure opened the way for a thirty-year presidency under his successor.

The board was mandated to advise on policy for the overall development of the fisheries sector. Manpower development programmes followed in the early 1980s and fisheries education entered the school curriculum.

Reforms opened greater opportunities for the private sector and dismantled import quotas. The programme is judged largely successful and helped lift a country that had been among the world's twenty poorest in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Maldives entered the Commonwealth some seventeen years after independence from the United Kingdom. Membership provided a diplomatic platform beyond the Indian Ocean region.

The institute trained teachers for the expanding school system. It was followed in 1987 by the School of Hotel and Catering Services serving the tourist industry.

Around 80 mercenaries led by Ibrahim Lutfee and Sikka Ahmed Ismail Manik attacked on 3 November 1988, forcing Maumoon into hiding after earlier failed attempts in 1980 and 1983. India airlifted a parachute battalion from Agra over 2,000 km in Operation Cactus, securing Hulhulé and restoring the government within hours, while the navy captured the hijacked freighter MV Progress Light.

The institute trained staff for public and private services. It extended the network of tertiary institutions that later merged into a national college.

The role gave the islands a formal function within a regional body. Interest in full membership was expressed from 2002 but no application had been made as of 2008.

The Constitution was assented to on 27 November 1997 and came into force on 1 January 1998. It governed the republic until the more far-reaching 2008 settlement.

The college consolidated the country's tertiary provision and launched its first degree programme, a Bachelor of Arts, in 2000. It later became the basis of the Maldives National University.

Its June 2026 update projected growth would fall to 0.7 per cent in 2026 from 6.3 per cent in 2025, as Middle East flight disruption cut tourist arrivals after a record 2.25 million visitors the previous year. Public debt stood at almost 130 per cent of GDP.

The group died during a dive on 14 May 2026, prompting a multi-day search and rescue operation. A Maldives National Defence Force diver taking part in the search also died two days later.

Mohamed Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih agreed to work together after weeks of protests and a crackdown on media coverage of a documentary alleging an affair by President Muizzu, which he denied. It brought together three rival former heads of state.

In a 4 April 2026 referendum, voters turned down a constitutional amendment passed in January to hold both elections on the same day in 2028. Local council results the same day went heavily against President Muizzu's People's National Congress.

The government dropped Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham from its list of designated terrorist organisations on 8 February 2026, reflecting changed conditions in Syria following the fall of the Assad government.

The break, announced on 27 February 2026, followed disagreement linked to Maldivian maritime claims connected to the Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute between Mauritius and the United Kingdom. It marked a rare rupture between the two Indian Ocean island states.

A national telethon and public appeal raised over 834,000 US dollars in relief funds, handed over on 5 December 2025, after the government had already sent 50,000 US dollars and 25,000 cases of tinned tuna in November.

The changes to the Drugs Act, signed on 6 December 2025, made smuggling narcotics into the Maldives a capital offence. Rights groups raised concern, while the government said the move was intended to deter organised trafficking networks.

The upgraded northern airport, which reopened on 9 November 2025, was built with Indian financial and technical assistance and is intended to boost tourism and connectivity in the Maldives' outer atolls.

The venture, unveiled on 17 November 2025 with Saudi-based developer Dar Al Arkan, extends the Trump-branded hospitality portfolio into the Indian Ocean and adds to foreign investment in Maldivian high-end tourism.

A cabinet meeting resolved on the ban in response to the ongoing Gaza war. The measure signalled alignment with wider Muslim-world positions on the conflict.

Muizzu's party took 66 of 93 seats and allies a further nine, giving the president 75 legislators. The margin is sufficient to amend the constitution.

Muizzu beat incumbent Ibrahim Solih with 54% in the second round and was sworn in as eighth president on 17 October 2023. Widely seen as pro-China, his election soured relations with India.

The Act grants courts authority to compel journalists to reveal confidential sources, compromising press protections. The country ranked 100th in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index and 106th in 2024.

The 2022 Population, Housing and Economic Census counted 382,639 resident Maldivians and 132,493 resident foreigners, with the foreign-born making up 26% of the total. Some 41% of the population lived in the capital, up from 27% in 2000.

On 24 May 2021 the country had the highest number of infections per million people over the preceding 7 and 14 days, according to Bloomberg data. The surge threatened a tourism-dependent economy that had drawn over 1.7 million visitors in 2019.

After evidence of reform and functioning democratic processes under Solih, the Maldives rejoined on 1 February 2020. Readmission restored a key diplomatic platform lost in 2016.

Yameen was sentenced to five years in November 2019 and the High Court upheld the sentence in January 2021, before the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in November 2021. In 2024 he was freed from an eleven-year conviction and the High Court ordered a new trial.

The signature aligned the small island state with global disarmament efforts. It formed part of the Solih government's re-engagement with international institutions.

Solih took the most votes and was sworn in as president in November 2018 after a period the UN human rights chief had called an assault on democracy. His Maldivian Democratic Party then won a landslide in the April 2019 parliamentary election.

Facing threatened expulsion over human rights infringements and democratic backsliding, the government left the organisation in protest. The departure isolated the Maldives diplomatically until its return four years later.

The code, effective 16 July 2015, replaced the 1968 law and was the first modern comprehensive penal code incorporating the major tenets of Islamic law. It reflected the constitutional principle that no law contrary to Islam may be applied.

After surviving an assassination attempt, Yameen saw Vice-President Mohamed Jameel Ahmed removed by the Majlis and Vice-President Ahmed Adeeb arrested with 17 supporters for public order offences. A state of emergency was declared before a planned anti-government rally and parliament accelerated Adeeb's removal.

Nasheed won the most votes in the first round but the court voided the result despite positive assessments from international observers. Abdulla Yameen, half-brother of former president Maumoon, took the presidency in the re-run.

The commission set up in mid-2012 to probe the events leading to the transfer of power found no coup, but recommended strengthening democratic institutions to avert similar crises and further investigating alleged police misconduct.

Nasheed stood down on 7 February 2012 after weeks of protests and a mutiny by sections of the police and armed forces, handing power to Vice President Mohamed Waheed Hassan. Nasheed maintained he had been forced out at gunpoint, a claim a later commission of inquiry rejected.

The Act was passed on 17 January 2011 and the Maldives National University was named on 15 February 2011. In 2015 a presidential decree turned the College of Islamic Studies into the Islamic University of Maldives.

Owing to the islands' low elevation and the threat of sea-level rise, the Maldives became a leading voice in climate discussions, on the UN Human Rights Council and in other forums, while encouraging regional cooperation, especially between India and Pakistan.

Under a new constitution ratified that August, Mohamed Nasheed defeated long-serving President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in a run-off vote, ending three decades of single-candidate presidential referendums and marking the country's transition to multiparty democracy.

A constituent assembly completed the new constitution in June 2008 and the president ratified it in August, paving the way for multiparty elections.

Nasheed said he would explore purchasing higher ground in India, Sri Lanka and Australia as insurance for a nation more than 80% of whose islands lie under one metre above sea level. He followed this with an underwater cabinet meeting in 2009 and appeals at international climate talks.

Goods taxation was imposed for the first time in the country's history while import duties were cut on many goods and services. Universal health insurance, Aasandha, and social welfare benefits for the elderly, single parents and those with special needs were also introduced.

Though promised reforms were slow to be realised, parties were legalised in 2005 as part of the pledged liberalisation.

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami destroyed six islands, forced the evacuation of fourteen and closed twenty-one resort islands, killing 102 Maldivians and six foreigners and displacing thousands. Total damage exceeded US$400 million, about 62% of GDP; the absence of a continental shelf limited wave height to roughly 4.3 metres, and international donors funded a multi-year reconstruction and rehabilitation programme across dozens of islands.

Following political demonstrations in the capital, the president and his government promised liberalisation, a more representative political system and expanded political freedoms, though progress was sluggish.

The dissident journalist and activist established the MDP to challenge the ruling Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party and demand democratic reform. Pressure from the new party pushed Maumoon towards gradual political liberalisation.

The institute provided formal training in Islamic jurisprudence. It later fed into the Islamic University of Maldives created in 2015.

Sea temperatures rose by as much as 5 °C, devastating reefs central to fisheries and tourism. Scientists observed corals regenerating by 2004, but a further severe bleaching event struck in 2016 when surface temperatures reached a record 31 °C.