Geography of Maldives

Travel guides to any place tends to offers us with a clear idea about the various tourist destinations in a particular country inclusive of the best hotels and resorts for The Maldives is officially called the Republic of Maldives, is principally an island nation consisting of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is located south of the Lakshadweep islands of India and about seven hundred kilometers south-west of Sri Lanka. The geography of Maldives is very peculiar. Maldives is made up of twenty-six atolls that make up a territory featuring 1,192 islets, out of which only two hundred are inhabited by local communities. In terms of population the Maldives is the smallest

country in Asia and it is also the smallest Muslim nation in the world. Our web site gives details of the geography of Maldives. Maldives located in the Indian Ocean south-west of India is made up of 1,196 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 27 atolls that covers an area of roughly 90,000 square kilometers. The total area of Maldives is 300 sq kilometer with a coastline of 644 kilometer. Maldives is the flattest country in the world and it rises to only 1.8 meters above sea level. From north to south the length is approximately 750 kilometers and from west to east the width is approximately 120 kilometers. In some parts where there have been constructions the land rises to around 8 feet.

Maldives is formed by atolls and few islands and isolated coral reefs. Maldives is formed of 22 natural atolls and 5 smaller islands which are considered as smaller atoll formations. The word atoll is derived from the Maldives own language. The islands of Maldives are formed of corals and form a regular chain. The atolls of Maldives consist of coral reef that forms numerous small islands of 1 to 2 sq km. some of the atolls are large approximately 50 kilometers and most of the atolls are not more that 1 to 1.5 meters above sea level. The islands of Maldives do not have mountains and they are too small to have rivers. In some of the islands marshes and small lakes can be found. Most of the atolls are uninhabited and sometimes an atoll is surrounded by a steep coral beach. The island of the Fuvammulah situated in the middle of the equatorial channel is the large atoll surrounded by a coral beach.

In the initial days the atoll pose a great threat to the navigators and but after Capt. Robert Moresby assisted by Lieutenants Christopher and Young drew the cartography of Maldives the route was favored by most navigators. The atolls offer beautiful diving grounds. As a result it is a prime destination of the scuba divers from around the world.

The 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean caused many parts of the Maldives to be submerged in the sea water as a result the cartographers are planning to redraw the maps of Maldives. The global warming is posing a threat to the geography of Maldives Island because the rise of sea level due to global warming will cover most of the islands of Maldives.