\n Scientists believe that Maldive Islands were first settled by Aryan
\n immigrants who are thought to have colonised Sri Lanka at the same
\n time, (around 500 BC). Further migration from South India, as well
\n as Sri Lanka, occurred. The latest archaeological findings suggest
\n the islands were inhabited as early as 1500 BC. Around 947 AD,
\n recorded contact with the outside world began with the first Arab
\n travellers. As the population increased, the Maldivian people with
\n their mixed features formed tight-knit island communities.
\n Historical remains dating back to 400 BC show strong evidence that
\n Buddhism was widely practised among the people. Islam came to the
\n Maldives with the Persian and Arab travellers and in 1153 AD
\n Arabian traveller Abul Barakhat Al-Bar Bari is said to have been
\n responsible for the conversion to Islam. In
\n 1558, the Portuguese invaded and captured the Maldives. They ruled
\n the country for 15 years, until Boduthakurufaanu, the national hero
\n recaptured the Maldives from the Portuguese. He ruled the country
\n as Sultan Mohamed Thakurufaanu from 1573 – 1583.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Maldives became a British Protectorate and a dependency of
\n Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1887 and remained so until 26 July 1965 when
\n they gained full independence. The independent Maldives reverted
\n from a Sultanate to a Republic on 11th November 1968 and since then
\n the country has remained a fully independent republic.\n <\/p>\n
\n The first resort, Kurumba Village was developed in 1972, on an
\n uninhabited island near the capital, Malé. The resort,
\n had accommodation for about 60 guests. The second resort was
\n Bandos, with about 280 beds. The services in the two resorts were
\n quite basic compared to that of others in the region. The food was
\n mainly local and the transportation quite slow. It was also a time
\n when air travel to the Maldives was only available on
\n Air Ceylon which operated a small
\n Avero aircraft. This plane carried only 48 passengers and took
\n two hours to reach Malé from Colombo. Despite
\n this, over a thousand tourists came to the Maldives in 1972. In
\n 2003 the Maldives consists of more than 80 resorts, and over
\n 500,000 visitors from all over the world. Italian visitors account
\n for approximately 25% of all visitors, followed by the UK at 17%,
\n Germany at 14% and Japan at 9% and the average stay is 8.5 nights.\n <\/p>\n
\n The Maldives hold the record for being the flattest country in the
\n world, with a maximum altitude of only 2.3 metres. Although there
\n have been reports of rising sea levels threatening the islands, the
\n sea level has actually lowered in recent decades. There are said to
\n be 199 inhabited islands and 993 uninhabited islands.\n <\/p>\n
\n The December tsunami reached the Maldives at approximately 9.20am
\n on 26 December 2004, sending waves up to five metres high over the
\n 1192 islands. The disaster is believed to have caused damage to 69
\n of the 199 inhabited islands and 14 islands are said to be
\n completely devastated and had to be evacuated. In total, some
\n 20,500 islanders were displaced from their homes and 83 people were
\n killed, including three tourists. A further 25 people are still
\n missing and presumed lost in the disaster.\n <\/p>\n
\n Even before the disaster, environmentalists were concerned about
\n the risk to the islands from rising sea levels. The most serious
\n damage was to the islands along the east coast of the group,
\n particularly in North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll, but the
\n capital, Malé, and the international airport on Hulhule island
\n experienced only minor flooding. The tsunami also caused
\n significant damage in the far south of the Maldives, particularly
\n to Vilufushi in the Thaa Atoll and Kolhufushi in the Meemu Atoll.
\n In the north, Kandholhudhoo island in the Raa Atoll was completely
\n destroyed, displacing 3,000 islanders from their homes. The island
\n has since been abandoned. Cartographers
\n are planning to redraw the maps of the islands due to alterations
\n by the tsunami.\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite the massive damage to homes, schools, harbour facilities,
\n telephone and electricity suppliers and general infrastructure, the
\n loss of life was thankfully comparatively small, especially when
\n compared with Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Still,
\n estimates suggest that around 7% of the population has been left
\n homeless by the disaster and the overall cost of damage is
\n estimated at US$470 million, or 62% of the islands' GDP. The
\n government has reported that the impact of the tsunami will set
\n back development in the Maldives by two decades.\n <\/p>\n
\n Despite this, the emergency relief effort has been extremely
\n successful, though some would say that it has been challenged to
\n the areas most frequented by tourists. As of March, 71 of the 87
\n resorts in the Maldives were open as normal and tourists could
\n visit Malé and other areas that escaped major damage without
\n problems. However, 16 resorts remain closed as a result of the
\n disaster – for an update on the 16 hotels that are closed, see:
\n www.visitmaldives.com.mv\n <\/p>\n
\n No prior visa arrangements are required, but some requirements must
\n be fulfilled to obtain a 30 days tourist visa on arrival: a visitor
\n must have a valid travel documents and properly completed
\n embarkation\/disembarkation cards which usually provided at during
\n the inward flight. In addition, visitors must also have a return
\n air ticket or at least US$ 50.00 per intended day of stay in
\n Maldives. Any amount of Foreign currency can be brought in without
\n declaring and can be taken out without any restriction. Some items
\n are forbidden to be imported to the country, including firearms and
\n explosives, pornography of any kind, including what would be
\n considered “acceptable erotica” in all western (and most
\n eastern) societies, pork and all products containing pork, narcotic
\n drugs, poisons and hazardous, irritable or industrial chemicals and
\n alcohol. Alcoholic items purchased on the trip will be held in
\n Customs bond for collection upon departure.\n <\/p>\n
Scientists believe that Maldive Islands were first settled by Aryan immigrants who are thought to have colonised Sri Lanka at the same time, (around 500 BC). Further migration from South…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-april-2005"],"yoast_head":"\n