Buddhism became the dominant religion in the Maldives and enjoyed royal patronage for many centuries, probably as long as over one thousand and four hundred years.

In 2005, the Maldives became one of the promoters of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention Against Torture after having earlier acceded to the Convention.

Maldives became a member state of United Nations on 21 September 1965.

The Maldives became a member of the following UN agencies and conferences on the following dates:

The Maldives became a member of Non-Aligned Movement on 15 August 1976.

The Maldives became a member of OIC in August 1974.

The Maldives joined the Commonwealth of Nations on 9 July 1982 as a special member and became a full member on 20 June 1985

The Maldives became a member of Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association ( CPA ) on 1 January 2000.

The Maldives became a member of Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation ( CFTC ) in 1985.

The Maldives became a member of Commonwealth Youth Programme ( CYP ) on 9 July 1982.

Maldives became the third country to graduate to developing country status on 1 January 2011.

Official and economic relations between the neighboring Indian Ocean countries of the Maldives and Sri Lanka, have been positive since the Maldives became independent in 1965.

In 1953, the Maldives became a republic, resulting in another flag change.

With the support of the people, he abolished the 812 years old sultanate and became the first president of the Maldives on 1 January 1953.

So, a referendum was held and Maldives became a republic.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Maldivians became more aware of the importance of a national anthem and in 1972, shortly before the Maldives was visited by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the government hastily commissioned Sri Lankan maestro W. D. Amaradeva for a new melody for the anthem.

He was deposed in 1968 from the throne when Maldives became a republic, and died the following year.

Thulhaadhoo's Health Centre became famous when Dr. Muhammad Owais Aziz found the first case of Swine Flu in the Maldives.

With this decision, Bank of Maldives became a public company on January 1, 1993.

Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, only 17 are not party to the treaty: Andorra, Angola, Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea ), Federated States of Micronesia, Haiti, Iraq, Kiribati, Lebanon, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Nauru, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan and Tuvalu.

" The scout, Ibrahim Jaisham, a male member of the co-educational The Scout Association of Maldives, sustained minor injuries during the intervention.

A founder member of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC ), the Maldives is also a member of the Bretton Woods system.

The Maldives were a founder member in 1985 of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation ( SAARC ) and the nation plays a very active role in the association.

The Maldives is a member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation ( OIC ) and maintains close cultural relations with Islamic countries.

Additional countries with member parties in government are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Macedonia, Maldives, Moldova, Mongolia and Spain.

In 1975, he was sent to the United Nations for two months as a member of the Maldives delegation, part of the department of External Affairs ( as the Foreign Ministry was then called ).

On June 2, 2005, the country's 50 member parliament voted unanimously to allow and operate political parties in Maldives.

On June 2, 2005, the country's 50 member parliament voted unanimously to allow and operate political parties in Maldives.

On 30 August, the Maldives ' National Commission of Inquiry stated that it had found no evidence to support Nasheed's version of events, a verdict supported by the US and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and on the coasts of Brazil, Madagascar, the East Indies, The Maldives, China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the Molucca islands.

The countries with coastlines on the Arabian Sea are Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Oman, Iran, Pakistan, India and the Maldives.

* 2004 – A 9. 3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230, 000 people including over 1700 on a moving train.

It is also suggested that the Arabs, who reached Lakshadweep and Maldives around 900 AD, may have visited the Chagos, and that Zheng He may have sailed close in 1413 – 1415, since it is documented on a Ming Dynasty map.

In the early 1960s, the UK was withdrawing its military presence from the Indian Ocean area, not including the base at RAF Gan to the north of Diego Garcia in the Maldives ( which remained open until 1976 ), and agreed to permit the US to establish a Naval Communication Station on one of its island territories there.

From the Maldives, he carried on to Sri Lanka and visited Sri Pada and Tenavaram temple.

Stranded on shore, he worked his way back to Kozhikode, from where he returned to the Maldives and boarded a Chinese junk, still intending to reach China and take up his ambassadorial post.

In 2009 President Tong attending the Climate Vulnerable Forum ( V11 ) in the Maldives, along with 10 other countries that are vulnerable to climate-change, and signed the Bandos Island declaration on 10 November 2009, pledging to show moral leadership and commence greening their economies by voluntarily committing to achieving carbon neutrality.

Historically Maldives has had a strategic importance because of its location on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean.

These stupas and other archaeological remains, like foundations of Buddhist buildings Vihara, compound walls and stone baths, are found on many islands of the Maldives.

Despite the clear evidence that all the ancient ruins in Maldives are Buddhist, Heyerdahl claimed that early " sun-worshiping seafarers ", called the " Redin ", first settled on the islands.

Maldives granted the British a 100 year lease on Gan that required them to pay £ 2, 000 a year, as well as some 440, 000 square metres on Hitaddu for radio installations.

Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik was sworn in as President of the Maldives on 7 February 2012, in connection to the resignation of President Nasheed amidst weeks of protests and demonstrations led by local police dissidents who opposed Nasheed ’ s 16 January order for the military to arrest Abdulla Mohamed, the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court.

The current President of the Maldives is former Senior Member of UNICEF, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who was sworn into office on 7 February 2012 when his predecessor, Mohamed Nasheed resigned following weeks of protests led by police.

The Maldives have scored poorly on some indices of freedom.

As part of the state of emergency, and to prevent independent reporting of events, the government shut off Internet access and some mobile telephony services to Maldives on August 13 and 14, 2004.

An October 2009 cabinet meeting was held underwater ( ministers wore scuba gear and communicated with hand signals ) to publicise to the wider world the threat of global warming on the low-lying islands of the Maldives.

* Amnesty International reports on the Maldives

Nowadays, the mixed economy of the Maldives is based on the principal activities of tourism, fishing and shipping.

Information on transport in the Maldives.

The Maldives ban the import of alcohol, x-raying all baggage on arrival.

* Thor Heyerdahl on Maldives Royal Family website

unnamed location on Vilingili Island in the Addu Atoll 2. 4 m ( Maldives is the flattest country in the world, i. e. they have the lowest high-point of any country in the world ).

Many, if not most, Maldivians and foreign workers in Maldives find themselves in occasional short term residence on the island since it is the only entry point to the nation and the centre of all administration and bureaucracy.