Maldives: Background & Geography

Introduction Maldives
Background:
 The Maldives were long a sultanate, first under Dutch and then under British protection. They became a republic in 1968, three years after independence. Tourism and fishing are being developed on the archipelago.
Geography Maldives
Location:
 Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India
Geographic coordinates:
 3 15 N, 73 00 E
Map references:
 Asia
Area:
 total: 300 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 300 sq km
Area - comparative:
 about 1.7 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries:
 0 km
Coastline:
 644 km
Maritime claims - as described in UNCLOS 1982 (see Notes and Definitions):
 measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
contiguous zone: 24 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate:
 tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)
Terrain:
 flat, with white sandy beaches
Elevation extremes:
 lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Wilingili island in the Addu Atoll 2.4 m
Natural resources:
 fish
Land use:
 arable land: 3.33%
permanent crops: 6.67%
other: 90% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
 NA sq km
Natural hazards:
 low level of islands makes them very sensitive to sea level rise
Environment - current issues:
 depletion of freshwater aquifers threatens water supplies; global warming and sea level rise; coral reef bleaching
Environment - international agreements:
 party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
 1,190 coral islands grouped into 26 atolls (200 inhabited islands, plus 80 islands with tourist resorts); archipelago with strategic location astride and along major sea lanes in Indian Ocean

See Also: