Maldive Islands, officially the Republic of Maldives, is an island country consisting of a group of atolls stretching south of India’s Lakshadweep islands between Minicoy Island and the Chagos Archipelago, and about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka in the Laccadive Sea of Indian Ocean. The twenty-six atolls of Maldives encompass a territory featuring 1,192 islets, of which two hundred islands are inhabited.

The original inhabitants were Buddhist, probably since Ashoka’s period, in the 3rd century BC. Islam was introduced in 1153. The Maldives then came under the influence of the Portuguese (1558) and the Dutch (1654) seaborne empires. In 1887 it became a British protectorate. In 1965, the Maldives obtained independence from Britain (originally under the name “Maldive Islands”), and in 1968 the Sultanate was replaced by a Republic.

The name “Maldives” may derive from Maale Dhivehi Raajje (“The Island Kingdom [under the authority of] Male”), the local name for the Maldives. The island nation was synonymous with its capital “Maale” and sometimes called ‘Mahaldeeb’, and the people were called Maldivian ‘Dhivehin’. The word Dheeb/Deeb (archaic Dhivehi, a corruption of Dweep in Sanskrit) means ‘island’ and Dhives (Dhivehin) means ‘islanders’ (ie: the Maldivians). During the colonial era, the Dutch referred to the country as Maldivische Eilanden in their documentation, while “Maldive Island” is the anglicized version of the local name used by the British, which later came to be written as Maldives.

The ancient Sri Lankan chronicle, the Mahawamsa refers to an island called Mahiladiva or ‘Island of Women’ in Pali. The Mahawamsa is derived from an even older Sinhala work dating back to the 2nd century BC.

Some scholars theorize that the name “Maldives” derives from the Sanskrit mālādvīpa, meaning “garland of islands” . None of the names are mentioned in any literature, instead classical Sanskrit texts dating back to the Vedic times mention the “Hundred Thousand Islands” (Lakshadweepa); a generic name which would include not only the Maldives, but also the Laccadives and the Chagos island groups.

Some medieval Arab travelers such as Ibn Batuta called the islands “Mahal Dibiyat” from the Arabic word Mahal (“palace”).” This is the name currently inscribed in the scroll of the Maldive state emblem. Although the classical Yemeni name for Maldives is Dibajat.

Philostorgius, an Arian Greek historian who relates (circa AD 354) about a Divoeis (the Divaeans, pronounced Divians) hostage after fulfilling his mission to the Homerites, sailed to his island home known as “Divus” (Maldives).

The Maldives holds the record for being the lowest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only 2.3 m (7.5 ft) with the average being only 1.5 m above sea level, though in areas where construction exists this has been increased to several metres. Over the last century, sea levels have risen about 20 centimetres (8 in); further rises of the ocean could threaten the existence of Maldives. However, around 1970 the sea level there dropped 20-30 cm. In November 2008, President Mohamed Nasheed announced plans to look into purchasing new land in India, Sri Lanka, and Australia, due to his concerns about global warming and the possibility of much of the islands being inundated with water from rising sea levels. Current estimates place sea level rise at 59 cm by the year 2100. The purchase of land will be made from a fund generated by tourism. The President has explained his intentions, saying “We do not want to leave the Maldives, but we also do not want to be climate refugees living in tents for decades”.

A tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake caused serious damage to the socioeconomic infrastructure which left many people homeless, and irreversible damage to the environment. After the disaster, cartographers are planning to redraw the maps of the islands due to alterations caused by the tsunami.
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On 22 April 2008, then Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom pleaded for a cut in global greenhouse gas emissions, warning that rising sea levels could submerge the island nation of Maldives. In 2009, subsequent president Mohamed Nasheed pledged to make the Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade by moving to solar and wind power.

The reef is composed of coral debris and living coral. This acts as a natural barrier against the sea, forming lagoons. Other islands, set at a distance and parallel to the reef, have their own protective fringe of reef. An opening in the surrounding coral barrier allows access to the calmer lagoon waters.

The barrier reefs of the islands protect them from the storms and high waves of the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean has a great effect on the climate of the country by acting as a heat buffer, absorbing, storing, and slowly releasing the tropical heat. The heat is further mitigated by cool sea breezes.

A layer of humus 152-millimetre (6.0 in) -thick forms the top layer of soil on the islands. Below the humus layer are two feet of sandstone, followed by sand and then fresh water. Due to high levels of salt in the soil near the beach, vegetation is limited there to a few plants such as shrubs, flowering plants, and small hedges. In the interior of the island, more vegetation such as mangrove and banyan grow. Coconut palms, the national tree, are able to grow almost everywhere on the islands and are integral to the lifestyle of the natives.

The limited vegetation is supplemented by the abundance of coral reefs and marine life.