Carl Wilhem Rosset’s colourful account of the Maldives in 1885; now even more colourfuller!
In the jungle of Isdhoo island, you can dig your way to wellness…if you can find it.
Shipwrecks, like this one in Vaavu atoll, have long played a significant role in the destiny of Dhivehi culture
Hammond Innes is the only author to have written a novel based in Addu atoll…but when did he visit, and what did think about life in the United Suvadive Republic, 1963?
If coral-stone walls could talk, what stories they’d tell
With little in the islands committed to writing, fact, fantasy and fanditha still converse regularly to produce the atolls’ stories.
Seventy-four years ago, thirty-nine men from Addu sailed for Colombo, but only two would come home
The Dhivehi dark ages stretch back through most of Maldivian history, but the mysterious glimmer of the Redhin remains
While much of the Maldives history starts and finishes in Male’, one man’s story goes much further
Sun, sea, sand, and shrines. There’s more to ‘ziyaaraiy kurun’ than you’d think
Very little of the country’s ancient history is on display, but this doesn’t mean it’s not there
Part man, part myth, Andhiri Andhirin is the man the Maldives loves to hate
Gaafu Alif Funadhoo seems like the perfect place for peace, tranquility, isolation and rejection. What secrets lie in the jungle?/p>
Three Didis and countless versions of the dark events that saw the Maldives most famous sorcerer executed in 1953
Island time is a flexible thing, except when it comes to the five daily prayers, and in Nilandhoo’s oldest mosque, an unusual device helps keep things on schedule (VIDEO INCLUDED)
Lagoon yesterday or lagoon tomorrow? Fuvahmulah’s lakes are unusual, beautiful, and mysterious
Searching for the stupa that confirmed the Maldives’ Buddhist ancestry can be tough, unless you really know where to look
Life on RAF Gan was often nothing to write home about, though that depends on what stationery you use
Political tensions loomed over the return of foreign forces to Seenu Gan in 1957, casting a shadow that seems to have left a man’s murder obscured in time
More than a century after being offered as a coronation gift, what can we learn from this sultan’s swing?
Following clues left by HCP Bell 94 years ago, we set out to discover the secrets of Hithadhoo’s cultural reserve (VIDEO INCLUDED)
Before Suvadive became Seenu or Gan became Coral Command, Addu was Port T, and Peter Doling’s fabulous book tells many tales
Sultan of the Maldives; lord of the twelve thousand isles; surely one of the best jobs in the world. Isn’t it?
Long before foreigners started using the country’s beaches for relaxation and release, Maldivians were doing the same…sort of
Even in the Maldives’ pristine isles, feuds tend to fester, but could Hulhumeedhoo’s environmental challenges have elevated its fighting into folklore?
Hulhumeedhoo is unique for a number of reasons, though a declining population isn’t one of them
Inspiring millions of tourists and one famous writer, were today’s friendly fauna once fearsome?
TripAdvisor review, H.C.P. Bell (1879): Many Maldivian tourists have been the ill-fated survivors of wrecks on the Atolls who have but exchanged a watery grave for a slower death from an insidious pest…6 out of 10!!
Firaq’s cave of wonders waits for a time when history and politics can find space to co-exist in the tiny islands
Ibrahim Didi keeps watch in the Maldives’ oldest cemetery as the sun and history still burn brightly
Straight roads cutting through the islands are an example of development policies that can often leave islanders unsure as to where they’re heading
The Maldives’ idyllic mystery has attracted a variety of explorers and academics whose patchwork of prose explains the country behind the fantasy
On the eastern side of the island lies a tomb with a disembodied history
The capital’s defences have adapted to new threats, but its oldest adversary may be unstoppable
The Kuramathi islanders have always lived in Rasdhoo atoll, and yet they haven’t been home for fifty years.
While Abu al Barakat is said to have converted the Maldives to Islam, a competitor for his title lies below the equator
Other than sleepy Maldivians, joali contain stories about past MaldivIan glories
Abdul Hameed, aged 78, once worked as a prayer reciter. Now he smiles
How would the Tangerine traveller’s story sound given the 21st century media treatment?
Declassified document sheds light on dark period in UK-Maldives relations
The Maldives slowly opened up to the world after World War II, though the man responsible for the initial introductions would not live to see it
Off the coast of Felivaru in Lhaviyani Atoll, the bow of a mystery vessel juts awkwardly from the reef…
Two millenia to count the Maldives’ islands. How long will it take to count the stories?
