islands - Beautiful Nation Photos - Beautiful Nation Project ☸2024-03-29T09:06:16Zhttp://www.beautifulnationproject.org/photos/feed/tag/islandsNothing like the Maldiveshttp://www.beautifulnationproject.org/photos/nothinglikethe-maldives2013-11-18T03:25:04.000Z2013-11-18T03:25:04.000ZTonia Lovejoyhttp://www.beautifulnationproject.org/members/1t0iivl53551v<div><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7252537?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p><b>Maldives</b>,<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup> officially the <b>Republic of the Maldives</b><sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives#cite_note-10">[nb 1]</a></sup> and also referred to as the <b>Maldive Islands</b>, is an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_country" title="Island country">island nation</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean" title="Indian Ocean">Indian Ocean</a> consisting of a double <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago" title="Archipelago">chain</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atolls_of_the_Maldives" title="Atolls of the Maldives">twenty-six</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoll" title="Atoll">atolls</a>, oriented north-south, that lie between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maliku_Atoll" title="Maliku Atoll" class="mw-redirect">Minicoy Island</a> (the southernmost part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakshadweep" title="Lakshadweep">Lakshadweep</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India" title="India">India</a>) and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagos_Archipelago" title="Chagos Archipelago">Chagos Archipelago</a>. The chains stand in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laccadive_Sea" title="Laccadive Sea">Laccadive Sea</a>, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a> and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India.</p>
<p>For the majority of its history, the Maldives has been an independent polity, despite three instances during which it was ruled by outside forces. In the mid-15th century, for fifteen years, the Maldives was dominated by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Empire" title="Portuguese Empire">Portuguese Empire</a>. In the mid-17th century, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Empire" title="Dutch Empire">Dutch Empire</a> (Malabar) dominated Maldives for four months. Finally, in the late 19th century, on the brink of war, the Maldives became a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom" title="United Kingdom">British</a> protectorate from 1887 until 1965. The Dutch referred to the islands as the "Maldivische Eilanden" (<small>pronounced </small><span title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" class="IPA"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Dutch_and_Afrikaans" title="Help:IPA for Dutch and Afrikaans">[mɑlˈdivisə ˈɛi̯lɑndə(n)]</a></span>),<sup class="Template-Fact">[<i><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2012)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> while the British <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicisation" title="Anglicisation">anglicised</a> the local name for the islands first to the "Maldive Islands" and later to the "Maldives". The islands gained <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Republic_of_the_Maldives" title="Second Republic of the Maldives" class="mw-redirect">independence</a> from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire" title="British Empire">British Empire</a> in 1965 and became a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic" title="Republic">republic</a> in 1968 ruled by a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_Maldives" title="President of the Maldives">president</a> and an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism" title="Authoritarianism">authoritarian</a> government.</p>
<p><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Flag_of_Maldives.svg/125px-Flag_of_Maldives.svg.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Flag_of_Maldives.svg/125px-Flag_of_Maldives.svg.png" class="align-full" /></a></p>
<p>[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives" target="_blank">Source</a>]</p>
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