History of the Maldives

Published on January 29, 2026 and written by Cyril Jarnias

Beyond the picture-postcard beaches and overwater villas, the country known today as the Maldives possesses a dense, complex, and often little-known history. An archipelago of 26 atolls and over 1,000 coral islands situated at the heart of the Indian Ocean, it served for millennia as a crossroads between India, the Arab world, Southeast Asia, East Africa, and later, Europe. From Buddhist kingdoms to Islamic sultanates, from colonial rule to the modern republic, the historical journey of this island state illuminates both the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean and the transformations of the contemporary Muslim world.

From Early Populations to the Birth of Island Kingdoms

The oldest traces suggest inhabitation of the Maldivian islands for over 2,500 years, possibly even as early as 1,500 or 2,000 BCE according to some archaeological interpretations. This antiquity is unsurprising when considering the archipelago’s position on the “maritime corridor” linking the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal, then to the Strait of Malacca and Southeast Asia.

The earliest known inhabitants are believed to be Indo-Aryan populations related to those who also colonized Sri Lanka around the same time. Oral traditions speak of the Dheyvis or Dheevis, who first settled in Haddhunmathi atoll before expanding further south towards Suvadinmathi (Huvadhoo). Other migratory waves came from southern India, notably Tamil regions and Maharashtra (Redi and Kunibee groups), and even, according to some evidence, from Sindh. The Giraavaru, a fishing people settled on an island now submerged by the urbanization of Malé, are considered one of the oldest communities in the north.

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Sri Lankan historical sources, notably the *Mahāvaṃsa*, mention a ship belonging to the founding prince Vijaya that drifted to an island called Mahiladvipika, later identified with the Maldives. These accounts, though non-chronological, attest to very ancient maritime exchanges between Sri Lanka, India, and the Maldivian archipelago.

Politically, the earliest known state structures took the form of island kingdoms. The oldest remembered in tradition is the Kingdom of Dheeva Maari. It was dominated by a dynasty called the Adeetta Vansa, or Solar Dynasty, founded by Sri Soorudasaruna Adeettiya, a prince exiled from a kingdom in Kalinga on India’s eastern coast. This lineage is said to have been succeeded by the Soma Vansa, or Lunar Dynasty, a “sun/moon” pattern found in other South Asian cultures.

These stories recount internal conquests, northern atolls occupied by a certain Raja Dada, then reconquered by Sri Mahaabarana Adeettiya, who proclaimed himself ruler of 14 atolls and 2,000 islands. This same dynastic imagination, playing on solar and lunar ancestry, would persist even in the formal titles of Muslim sovereigns, who in the 20th century still called themselves ‘descendants of the Sun and the Moon.’

The Maapanansa, ancient text

An Island Society Shaped by the Sea

In this pre-Islamic era, Maldivian society was structured around the sea. Fishing, boat building, manufacturing rope from coconut fiber (coir), coconut harvesting, and some subsistence agriculture dominated the economy. A form of social hierarchy existed, though not a strict Indian-style caste system: royal elites, notables, specialized artisans, and the fishing population organized themselves according to customs adapted to a territory fragmented into hundreds of islands.

Land was often granted as estates to families, with inheritance rules where the maternal line played an important role. Chroniclers and anthropological analyses even suggest that a strong matriarchal component characterized the early societies of the Maldives: queens wielded real political power, arbitrated conflicts, and the status of women appeared high compared to many regional societies of the same period.

From Sun Worship to the Long Buddhist Millennium

Before the arrival of Buddhism, Maldivians practiced an archaic Hindu cult centered notably on the veneration of Surya, the Sun god. An archaeological artifact, a coral linga unearthed on Ariadhoo, supports this Hindu past. Carved images depicting Shiva, Lakshmi, Kubera, and the sage Agastya also testify to this Brahmanic phase.

The shift towards Buddhism likely occurred in the 3rd century BCE, following in the wake of Emperor Ashoka, known to have sent religious missions from northern India to Ceylon. For about 1,400 years thereafter, the archipelago lived under the banner of the Buddhist dharma. It is from this long period that almost all the visible ancient ruins originate.

59

Number of islands containing Buddhist sites in the Maldives according to a 1990 inventory.

For a long time, early 19th-century European scholars assumed Maldivian Buddhism was essentially of the Theravāda type, introduced from Sri Lanka. More recent research complicates this picture: a reliquary discovered in Maalhos, Ari Atoll, bears a Vishvavajra motif and an inscription in proto-Bengali identical to that used in the great Buddhist centers of Nalanda or Vikramashila in India. Fragments of porites stupas displayed at the National Museum in Malé depict meditating Buddhas in Mahāyāna iconography, while other coral blocks bear clearly Vajrayāna motifs.

Note:

The Maldivian archipelago was a meeting point for Buddhist currents and, according to Thor Heyerdahl’s excavations, was integrated as early as the 2nd millennium BCE into vast exchange networks extending to Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley, demonstrating that its small size did not isolate it.

The Unification of the Kingdom and External Pressures

At the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE, the archipelago remained divided between several political entities. The northern atolls, including Minicoy and Thiladhunmathi, faced pressure from a powerful neighbor: the Chola Empire of southern India. The ruler Raja Raja Chola I led a naval campaign there, seizing some strategic islands. It is in this context that the figure of Koimala emerges, a noble from Sri Lanka who, according to tradition, first landed at Rasgetheemu, then went to the island of Malé where he founded a kingdom centered on this “royal rock.”

Under the name Sri Mahaabarana, Koimala is presented as the great unifier of the archipelago. He is linked to the lunar lineage, that of Theemuge, and his accession marks the triumph of a dynasty claiming both solar and lunar heritage. The throne then became the Singāsana, the “Lion Throne,” whereas before it was also referred to as Saridhaaleys, the “Ivory Throne.” Modern historians debate the true extent of this unification, but collective memory attributes to him the liberation of the archipelago from Chola control and the establishment of stable central power in Malé.

The Great Turning Point: The Islamization of the Kingdom

In the 12th century, a religious and political shift of considerable significance occurred: the last Buddhist king, Dhovemi, converted to Islam. He took the name Sultan Muhammad al-Adil and inaugurated over eight centuries of Islamic sultanate. The precise date of this conversion is debated—some sources mention 1153, others about forty years later—but all accounts, local and foreign, agree on its importance.

In Maldivian memory, this moment marks the end of the period of Jahiliyyah, the “Time of Ignorance,” a term borrowed from classical Islamic lexicon to designate the pre-Islamic era. Chronicles in ancient script, like the copper Loamaafaanu, describe in stark terms the suppression of Buddhism in certain atolls, notably Haddhunmathi: beheading of monks who refused to convert, dismantling or desecration of stupas, destruction of statues.

The Legend of Abu al-Barakat and the Sea Demon

At the heart of the conversion narrative is a mysterious figure: Abu al-Barakat Yusuf al-Barbari, presented as a Sunni Muslim scholar who ended a terrifying cult. The best-known legend tells of a sea demon, Ranna Maari, who each month demanded the sacrifice of a young girl thrown into the sea. The holy man, arriving from abroad, is said to have substituted himself for the promised victim, recited the Quran all night, and by morning, the demon had not reappeared. Impressed, the ruler is said to have embraced Islam, soon followed by his court and, gradually, all the islands.

For example:

The epithet ‘al-Barbari’, associated with the preacher who Islamized the Maldives, illustrates a historical mystery. It could designate a Berber from North Africa, a native of Berbera in Somalia, or a Persian from Tabriz (‘al-Tabrizi’), these terms often being confused in ancient Arabic writings. Furthermore, a southern tradition attributes the first Islamization of some southern islands to a certain Yoosuf Gadir, predating the preacher in Malé by nearly thirty years.

Regardless, the tomb of Abu al-Barakat at Medhu Ziyaaraiy, opposite the Grand Friday Mosque in Malé, remains a place of memory today. Islamization itself spread over several decades, even centuries. The Loamaafaanu of Isdhoo and Dhan’bidhoo, dated to the late 12th century, attest that by that period, some atolls had already converted to Islam while others were just finishing the destruction of their Buddhist sanctuaries.

Establishment of the Islamic Sultanate

With the ruler’s conversion, the archipelago entered a new political era. Six major Muslim dynasties succeeded one another, totaling about 84 sultans and sultanas until the early 20th century. The full title, particularly solemn, speaks volumes about the ambition of this island power: “Sultan of Land and Sea, Lord of the Twelve Thousand Islands and Sultan of the Maldives.” In their official formulas until 1968, rulers continued to claim descent from the Sun and the Moon, weaving a claimed link with pre-Islamic lineages.

Key point:

Legally and administratively, the kingdom fully integrated into the ecosystem of the Muslim world of the Indian Ocean. Arabic was adopted as the primary language of administration and diplomacy. The reference legal doctrine was initially that of the Maliki school, dominant in the western Indian Ocean, before being gradually supplanted by other Sunni traditions from the 17th century onward. Judges, or *qadis*, resolved disputes based on both Sharia and island customs, in a society where the authority of atoll chiefs and island chiefs remained strong.

A Coral Sea Power: Trade, Currency, and Oceanic Routes

Located on the axis of monsoon winds linking the Persian Gulf, the Swahili Coast, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia, the Maldives played a role far greater than their size in the pre-modern economy of the Indian Ocean. Two products in particular, seemingly mundane, would make their fortune: the cowrie shell Cypraea moneta, and coconut fiber, or coir.

In the medieval world, cowrie shells served as small currency across a vast zone stretching from India to East Asia and East Africa. The Maldives was one of its main sources. The country exported this “natural money”—called Boli locally—to Bengal, which used it as an official monetary unit, but also to other kingdoms in Asia. The Bengal–Maldives network became the largest cowrie currency system in history, with entire cargoes of Boli sacks leaving the archipelago often in exchange for rice.

This economic importance is easily seen in descriptions by Arab and Persian travelers from the 9th to 11th centuries, like Sulaiman, Al-Masudi, Al-Biruni, or Al-Idrisi, who mention the quality of local products, the beauty of fabrics and jewelry, but above all the abundance of these monetary shells. The same observation is made by the great Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta, who stayed in the Maldives in the 14th century, was entrusted with the role of chief judge, and married women from the royal family.

Simultaneously, coconut fiber became the invisible thread of Indo-Oceanic navigation. Maldivian coir, robust and salt-resistant, was used to sew the hull planks of Sindhi and Yemeni dhows, as noted by Ibn Battuta, but also of ships from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Exported to Sindh, China, Yemen, and the Gulf, this fiber reinforced the reputation of the artisans of dhonis, the traditional boats that remain a national symbol today.

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Archaeological discoveries of Chinese ceramics and historical documents attest to ancient commercial and diplomatic exchanges between the archipelago and China. In the 15th century, Admiral Zheng He’s expeditions made several stops in the Maldives, using the archipelago as a strategic waypoint on maritime routes.

The Maldives, Seen from Afar: From Rome to China

The islands were not only known to Eastern merchants. Greco-Roman sources, like Pappus of Alexandria or the historian Ammianus Marcellinus, mention “Islands of the Divi” or “Divus” as early as Antiquity. Ammianus reports that a delegation from these mysterious islanders offered gifts to Emperor Julian in the 4th century. Another author, Philostorgius, mentions a hostage named Theophilus, from an island called Diva, sent on a Christian mission to his homeland.

These mentions, long enigmatic, gain new coherence in light of archaeological and linguistic data: the ancient forms Dheeva, Diva Kudha, Dibajat all refer to the Maldivian archipelago, which Persians and Arabs would eventually call Dibajat or Mahal Dibiyat. In the modern era, the Dutch spoke of the Maldivische Eilanden, the British anglicized it to “Maldive Islands” then “Maldives.” The Maldivian name itself, Dhivehi Raajje, means “the kingdom of the Dhivehi,” a term designating both the people and the language.

Colonial Shocks: Portuguese, Dutch, British

From the 16th century, the arrival of European powers disrupted the delicate balance of the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese, masters of Goa, sought to control key points of maritime traffic, including the Maldives, useful as a stopover on the route from the Strait of Hormuz to Malacca.

In 1558, a Portuguese garrison established itself in Malé under the command of Andreas Andre (known locally as Andhiri Andhirin). The Portuguese attempted to impose Christianity; a deposed sovereign, Hasan IX, even converted to Catholicism in Cochin under the name D. Manoel, hoping for their military support. The Portuguese presence was brutal, marked by forced conversions and reprisals. The episode ended in 1573 with an uprising led from the island of Utheemu by Muhammad Thakurufaanu al-A’uzam and his brothers.

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A prolonged resistance led to the liberation of the Maldives from Portuguese domination after the death of the garrison commander in Malé. Thakurufaanu, who became sultan and founded the Utheemu dynasty, is celebrated as a national hero. His victory is commemorated annually during Gaumee Dhuvas on the first day of the Islamic month of Rabi’ al-Awwal.

Subsequent Portuguese attempts to regain a foothold in the archipelago failed as the regional geopolitics evolved. By the mid-17th century, it was the Dutch, masters of Ceylon, who established a form of soft hegemony over the Maldives via the Dutch East India Company. They did not directly occupy the islands, allowing the sultanate to manage its religious and internal affairs, contenting themselves with controlling the broad lines of trade. This indirect suzerainty ended in the late 18th century when the British expelled the Dutch from Ceylon.

The British Protectorate: Limited Sovereignty, Internal Autonomy

From 1796, the Maldives de facto entered the British sphere, although protectorate status was only formalized in 1887. The 19th century saw a gradual increase in British interference, motivated by internal unrest and the protection of Indian merchants, the Borah, who were British subjects.

1887

The year the agreement was signed whereby the Maldives ceded their foreign policy and defense to the British Crown.

This regime resembled that applied to other coastal states like Zanzibar or the Trucial States (future United Arab Emirates). In practice, the sultan’s real authority diminished, with part of the power captured by the chief minister, then by the figure of the Prime Minister. The traditional balance between monarchy, ulama, and atoll notables was gradually reshaped under this external pressure.

From Aborted Constitutions to the First Republic

In the early 20th century, the global wave of constitutional reforms also reached Malé. In 1932, under the auspices of Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen III, a first constitution was promulgated, creating a People’s Majlis (People’s Assembly) and laying the foundations for a constitutional-type monarchy. The first president of this assembly was none other than Mohamed Farid Didi, the country’s future last sultan.

The Revolt Against the Constitution

The constitutional proposal provoked strong opposition among the population, leading to violent rejection and delaying the establishment of a stable order.

Popular Resistance

Part of the population revolted, fearing increased British interference and the undermining of traditional privileges.

Public Destruction

The constitution was literally torn up in public by an angry crowd, marking a strong symbolic rejection.

Lasting Consequences

This episode delayed the lasting establishment of a stable constitutional order in the country by several decades.

After World War II—a conflict from which the islands suffered only limited repercussions, despite episodes like the torpedoing of the oil tanker British Loyalty off Addu—autonomist aspirations grew stronger. The London–Malé axis was reconfigured with the construction of the RAF base on Gan Island in Addu Atoll, transformed into a major support point for British forces in the Indian Ocean.

The strongman of the kingdom in the 1940s, he nationalized fish exports, attempted to regain control of an economy dominated by foreign merchants, and argued for greater independence. In 1952, a referendum abolished the monarchy and established a first republic, with Amin Didi as president.

Mohamed Amin Didi, Prime Minister then first President of the Republic

A reformer, in favor of modern education and women’s rights, he clashed head-on with conservative forces. A crisis linked to food shortages, manipulated by his opponents, led to riots. Upon returning from a medical trip to Ceylon, he was arrested, mistreated by an angry mob, and died shortly after in 1953. A new referendum restored the monarchy the following year, and Muhammad Fareed Didi became the 84th sultan.

Secession in the South and March Towards Independence

The 1950s were dominated by a dual challenge: the British military presence and internal fractures between northern and southern atolls. The renewal of the Gan base, formalized by a 100-year lease at a low price, was secretly negotiated by Prime Minister Ibrahim Faamudheyri Kilegefaan. His successor, Ibrahim Nasir, quickly opposed it, considering the agreement unbalanced.

In the southern atolls, notably Addu, Huvadhoo, and Fuvahmulah, part of the population experienced the period of the British base as a “golden age” (ran zamaaan): stable jobs, facilitated supplies, relative prosperity. Fears of losing these advantages with a hardening stance from Malé fueled a secessionist movement. On January 1, 1959, these three atolls proclaimed the formation of the United Suvadive Republic, with Abdullah Afeef as president and Hithadhoo as its capital.

The central authorities responded with an economic embargo, while London carefully refrained from officially recognizing this new state, while safeguarding its military interests at Gan. In 1962, Ibrahim Nasir, now Prime Minister, sent armed units to regain control of the south. The secessionist republic disappeared in 1963, and Afeef went into exile in the Seychelles. The reintegration of the atolls, combined with the reassertion of control over the economy, strengthened the central government’s legitimacy in its claim for full and complete independence from the Crown.

Negotiations with London and Political Independence

Emerging from the southern crisis and the gradual expulsion of Borah merchants from Malé, the independence argument took on an economic as much as a political color: regaining control of resources, controlling foreign bases, renegotiating agreements deemed one-sided. Talks opened in Colombo from 1964 between Ibrahim Nasir, the Sultan’s Prime Minister, and British representatives, including Sir Humphrey Arthington-Davy. Maldivian diplomat Abdul Sattar Moosa Didi played a key mediating and negotiating role.

750,000

Amount in pounds sterling paid by the United Kingdom to the Maldives for economic development, in exchange for the right to use the Gan base and Hithadhoo facilities after independence.

Independence was subsequently recognized by the United Nations. The Maldives submitted their application in August 1965 and became a UN member in September. The country would remain formally an independent sultanate for another three years, time for the next transformation to mature: the definitive shift to a republic.

From Monarchy to the Modern Republic

In the late 1960s, the institutional question resurfaced. In 1967, the Majlis voted by a large majority to transform the regime into a republic. A national referendum in March 1968 ratified this option with over four-fifths of the votes cast. On November 11, 1968, the Second Republic was proclaimed, the monarchy over eight centuries old was abolished, and Ibrahim Nasir, until then Prime Minister, took the oath as the first President of the Republic of Maldives.

Under his mandate, the country experienced a phase of accelerated modernization. Malé International Airport became operational, the fishing sector was mechanized, the first tourist resort—Kurumba Maldives—opened in 1972, marking the beginnings of a tourism industry that would radically transform the island economy. English-based schooling was established; women, who already had a high social status, saw their right to vote enshrined; radio and television gradually expanded the public sphere.

Note:

Nasir’s presidency was marked by authoritarian measures, notably the suppression of the southern secession, an economy weakened by the closure of the British Gan base and the collapse of the dried fish export market, and a controversial language reform temporarily replacing the Thaana script with the Latin alphabet, which alienated part of the cultural elites.

In 1978, after a turbulent decade, Nasir left the country for Singapore. A subsequent investigation accused him of taking a significant portion of the public treasury with him. He left, however, a state with no external debt and a substantial merchant fleet.

Thirty Years of Power for Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

In November 1978, the Majlis designated a new presidential candidate, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who received over 90% of the votes in the confirmation referendum. He would be re-elected five times, always as the sole candidate, until 2008. His long rule is often presented by his supporters as a period of political stability and remarkable economic growth, driven by the rise of tourism and greater integration into international financial institutions (joining the IMF and World Bank in 1978).

1,000,000

The number of annual tourists to the Maldives at the start of the 21st century, surpassing one million.

But the dark side of this development soon appeared. Concentration of power in the hands of the president and his inner circle, arrests of opponents, detentions without trial, accusations of torture and disappearances: human rights organizations paint a worrying picture of the political situation. Three attempted coups d’état—in 1980, 1983, and especially 1988—testify to the regime’s latent fragility.

The 1988 episode left a mark. A group of about 80 Tamil militants from PLOTE, recruited as mercenaries, landed in Malé and attempted to overthrow the president. Gayoom, in hiding, called India for help. Within hours, Operation Cactus, carried out by 1,600 Indian soldiers parachuted in or landed on site, neutralized the insurgents. Nineteen people died. The failure of the coup temporarily strengthened Gayoom’s position, but it also cemented the image of a regime that maintained itself only through a close alliance with powerful neighbors.

Democratization, Political Crises, and Climate Challenges

From the 2000s onward, accumulated tensions erupted into the open. In 2003, the death in detention of a young prisoner, Hassan Evan Naseem, bearing signs of torture, provoked riots and crystallized popular anger. Mass demonstrations took place in Malé, notably during the “Black Friday” of August 2004, where several thousand people demanded the end of the regime. The government declared a state of emergency, cut internet and communications, and arrested hundreds of protesters.

Simultaneously, a younger generation of opponents organized. One of the best-known faces was Mohamed Nasheed, a former journalist and activist imprisoned numerous times under Gayoom. In exile, he founded the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in 2003, the country’s first modern political party, which would be officially legalized in 2005 when political parties were finally permitted.

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A new constitution, ratified in August 2008, established multiparty politics and provided for direct presidential elections with a two-term limit. In October 2008, after a runoff, Mohamed Nasheed won the election against Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, marking the first change of power through the ballot box since the country’s independence.

A “Climate” President Under Domestic Pressure

The mandate of Mohamed Nasheed was immediately confronted with several challenges: public debt, reconstruction after the devastating December 2004 tsunami, youth unemployment, economic dependence on tourism vulnerable to external shocks. On the international stage, he became best known for his activism on climate change. Aware that his country, with an average elevation barely exceeding one and a half meters, is among the most exposed to rising sea levels, he organized a spectacular underwater cabinet meeting in 2009… in scuba gear, to alert world opinion.

He even mentioned creating a sovereign wealth fund to buy, if necessary, land in countries like India, Sri Lanka, or Australia, to one day relocate part of the threatened population. These images of ministers writing on submerged boards went around the world and cemented the image of the Maldives as a symbol of climate vulnerability.

Domestically, however, the reforms clashed head-on with the old system. In January 2012, the decision to have the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed, arrested—accused by the government of corruption and obstruction of justice—triggered a major crisis. Part of the police mutinied, joining protesters hostile to the president. On February 7, 2012, Nasheed announced his resignation on television, under conditions he later called a ‘coup at gunpoint.’ His vice president, Mohamed Waheed Hassan, succeeded him, claiming the transition was constitutional. A Commonwealth-backed commission of inquiry concluded months later that there was no proven coup, without easing political divisions.

Former President of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed

What followed involved controversial trials, back-and-forths between exile and return for Nasheed, convicted in 2015 to 13 years in prison for “terrorism” in a trial denounced by many international observers, then cleared in 2018 by the Supreme Court.

Alternations, Drifts, and Recent Realignments

The 2013 presidential election brought Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, Maumoon’s half-brother, to power. His five-year term was marked by both an intensification of Chinese investment in infrastructure—notably under the Belt and Road Initiative—and an authoritarian hardening: imprisonment of opponents, taming of the judiciary, declaration of a state of emergency in 2018 to counter a Supreme Court order to release political prisoners.

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Following President Yameen’s electoral defeat in 2018, the united opposition brought Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to power. The new government reoriented foreign policy towards an ‘India First’ approach, rejoined the Commonwealth (left in 2016, rejoined in 2020), and launched inquiries into corruption and human rights violations from previous mandates. Yameen was convicted of money laundering in 2019, although his sentence was later contested.

In 2019, a strong symbol of political realignment occurred when former president Mohamed Nasheed became Speaker of the People’s Majlis following a landslide MDP victory in the parliamentary elections. But these balances are not fixed. In 2023, the candidate of the People’s National Congress, Mohamed Muizzu, won the presidential election against Solih, against a backdrop of increasingly heated debates between supporters of alignment with India and advocates of increased cooperation with China. The new ruling team, perceived as closer to Beijing, took the reins of a country ever more exposed to the great geopolitical games of the Indian Ocean.

A Blended Culture, a Singular Islamic State

Through these centuries of political change, certain traits of Maldivian society show astonishing continuity. The national language, Dhivehi, remains a strong marker of collective identity. Of Indo-Aryan origin, related to Sinhala, it evolved from an ancient common Prakrit, integrating over the centuries Arabic, Hindi, and even Persian vocabulary. Its script, Thaana, which appeared around the 16th century, is particularly unique: it borrows its basic signs from Arabic numerals, is read from right to left, and succeeded older scripts like Eveyla akuru and Dhives akuru.

A State Islam with Strict Contours

Today, the Republic of Maldives is constitutionally defined as an Islamic state. The 2008 constitution enshrines Islam as the state religion, prohibits citizenship for non-Muslims, and forbids the enactment of laws contrary to Sharia principles. The practice of other religions is tolerated for foreigners only in private; non-Muslim proselytizing is illegal. Since 2014, apostasy is theoretically punishable by death, although the practical application of this provision remains questionable.

Good to know:

Despite a strict religious framework, society exhibits flexible social legacies concerning women. Historically, several sultanas have reigned. Women retain their family name after marriage, and property transmission occurs through both lineages. The divorce rate is high, and polygamy, though legal, is a minority practice and subject to an assessment of the husband’s financial resources.

Institutionally, the archipelago functions as a presidential republic. The president combines the functions of head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The unicameral parliament—the People’s Majlis—comprises deputies elected for five-year terms, from the capital and the 20 administrative atolls. The judiciary mixes Islamic law and common law influences, notably for commercial affairs.

A Country on the Front Line of Climate Change

The recent history of the Maldives cannot be separated from the major environmental question. With an average elevation of about 1.5 meters above sea level and land often just tens of centimeters above the surface, the country is frequently presented as one of the most threatened by rising sea levels. The consequences of the 2004 tsunami—108 dead, dozens of islands heavily damaged, some rendered uninhabitable, damages estimated at over half of GDP—served as a revealing shock.

Good to know:

The Maldives uses its vulnerability to climate change as a central argument in international forums (COPs, Earth Summit) and implements national adaptation plans (seawalls, breakwaters, land reclamation of islands like Hulhumalé, environmental programs, marine protected areas). However, a contradiction persists between the economic dependence on a high-energy, fragile mass tourism industry and the imperative need to reduce emissions and protect coral ecosystems already under pressure.

A Condensed Trajectory of the Indian Ocean

By tracing the history of the country of the Maldives, one reads, between the lines, much more than the destiny of a small island state. One finds, condensed, the great movements that shaped the Indian Ocean: ancient migrations between India and Sri Lanka, the spread of Buddhism then Islam, the formation of maritime kingdoms living from trade and mastery of routes, intrusions and European colonial rivalries, independence struggles, experiments in authoritarian modernization, fragile democratic openings, and, more recently, geopolitical shifts in the wake of the Sino-Indian tug-of-war.

Good to know:

The history of the Maldives is marked by successive reinventions, from Dheeva Maari to the sultanate, through the Solar and Lunar dynasties to contemporary presidents. Despite these transformations, constants persist: a society organized around the sea, a unique linguistic identity, a national Islam rooted in a millennia-long Buddhist past, and today, a sharp awareness of the archipelago’s ecological vulnerability.

A few tables allow for grasping this long trajectory at a glance.

Main Political Periods

Milestones of Recent Democratic Opening

Historical Products and Trade Routes

Through this data, a constant emerges: the Maldives, far from being isolated islands, have always lived connected to the world’s great arteries. Their history, made of crossroads of civilizations, local resistances, and rapid adaptations, continues today to play out on the scale of the entire Indian Ocean, while the climate threat imposes a new urgency on their millennia-old narrative.

Cyril Jarnias

Cyril Jarnias is an independent expert in international wealth management with over 20 years of experience. As an expatriate himself, he is dedicated to helping individuals and business leaders build, protect, and pass on their wealth with complete peace of mind.

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Thanks to his expertise, he offers sound advice to optimize his clients' wealth management. Cyril Jarnias is also recognized for his appearances in many prestigious media outlets such as BFM Business, les Français de l’étranger, Le Figaro, Les Echos, and Mieux vivre votre argent, where he shares his knowledge and know-how in wealth management.

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