Maldives officially Republic of Maldives (Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, Dhivehi Raa'jeyge Jumhooriyya), also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India'sLakshadweep Islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in theLaccadive Sea, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka and 400 kilometres (250 mi) south-west of India. During the colonial era, the Dutch referred to the country as "Maldivische Eilanden" in their documentation, while "Maldive Islands" is the anglicised version of the local name used by the British, which later came to be written "Maldives".
The Maldives was dominated from the mid sixteenth century by colonial powers: Portugal,the Netherlands, and Britain. In 1965, the Maldives gained independence from the British, becoming a republic. It was then ruled by a sultanate and an authoritarian government. After protests and political pressure for democracy, the first free elections in the history of the Maldives were held in 2008, leading to the election of Mohamed Nasheed. However, following the 2011-2012 Maldives Crisis and accompanying coup d'état, Nasheed was forced to resign in February 2012. Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manikwas thus sworn in as the new president.
The archipelago is located on top of the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. Maldives also form a terrestrial ecoregiontogether with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep.The atolls of Maldives encompass aterritory spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), making it one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. Its population of 328,536 (2012) inhabits 200 of its 1,192 islands.
