Geography

        The Maldivian archipelago is composed by 1192 islands, found in a chain of 26 geographic atolls, extends 860 km from north to south (7° 06’N to 00°42’S), and 120 km from east to west (72° 33’ E to 73° 46’ W) in the north central Indian Ocean. The total reef area of Maldives is estimated to be about 4000 sq km.

Only 5 % of this is dry land.The islands are rather small, most of them less than a kilometer long.The total population is 300 000, all sunni muslims and speaking their own language called dhivehi. The population is located in less than 200 islands, 66 of which have fewer than 1000 inhabitants. The dispersed nature of the island make transport in between islands very expensive and time-consuming. T

he Republic of Maldives is the youngest democracy of the world. On the 28/10/08, the first free election in Maldives history ended 30 years of autocratic government.The tourism sector is the main foreign curency earner, with about 700 000 visitors per year, and the tropical island environment and the marine biological diversity have proved to be a unique marketable asset.