Welcome to paradise island of on the islands of Maldives, you will surely get the most exciting experiences on the islands of Maldives, experience that you will never forgotten, especially for those of you who like scuba diving, swimming and snorkeling.
Maldive Islands is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago. It stands in the Laccadive Sea, about seven hundred kilometers south-west of Sri Lanka and south-west of India.
The Maldives is the lowest country in the world, with a maximum natural ground level of only 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in), with the average being only 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level, although in areas where construction exists, this has been increased to several metres. More than 80 per cent of the country's land, composed of coral islands scattered over an area about 850 km across the equator, is less than one metre above sea level
The Maldives consists of approximately 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls, along the north-south direction, spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres, making this one of the most dispersed countries in the world.
Coral reefs are home to a variety of marine ecosystems that vary from planktonic organisms to sharks, crustaceans and sponges.
Maldives waters are home to wide variety of ecosystems, but it is most noted for their variety of colorful coral reefs, home to 300 species of fish. Seven species have been described as new to science, several more await description. Over 400 have been identified and catalogued and many are now held in the reference collection, including 5 species of turtles, 51 species of echinoderms, 5 species of sea grasses and 285 species of alga & sponges, crustaceans, and tunicates.
The Maldives archipelago possesses a truly unique geography as a small island country. Nature has fragmented the archipelago into 1,190 tiny islands that occupy a mere one per cent of its 90,000 km2 territory. Only 185 islands are home to its 300,000 population, while the other islands are used entirely for economic purposes of which tourism and agriculture are the most dominant.
The development of tourism has fostered the overall growth of the country's economy. It has created direct and indirect employment and income generation opportunities in other related industries. The first tourist resorts were opened in 1972 with Bandos island resort and Kurumba Village.
The number of resorts has increased from 2 to 92 between 1972 and 2007. As of 2007, over 8,380,000 tourists had visited Maldives.
Most visitors arrive at Male International Airport, on Hulhule Island, adjacent to the capital Male. The airport is served by an array of flights to India, Sri Lanka, Doha, Dubai and major airports in South-East Asia, as well as an increasing number of charters from Europe.
Maldives was the first country to hold a cabinet meeting underwater. The cabinet meeting was chaired by President Mohamed Nasheed. In the meeting, the President, Vice President, and the cabinet signed a declaration calling for concerted global action on climate change, ahead of the UN climate conference in Copenhagen. The underwater meeting was part of a wider campaign by international environmental NGO 350.org. source: wikipedia
