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Mr Gardiner , The Natives of the Maldives. 
The Natives of the Maldives \ By J. Stanley Gardiner, M.A., 
Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, and Balfour Student of the 
University of Cambridge. 
[Head 12 November 1900.] 
The Maldives are a group of islands in the Indian Ocean to 
the south-west of the Indian Peninsula. They extend from lat. 
8° N. to lat. 1° S. and from long. 72° E. to long. 74° E., and include 
about 300 inhabited islands. To the north lies the Laccadive 
Group, distant about 150 miles, and intermediate to the two 
groups is the atoll of Minikoi. 
For administrative purposes the Maldives are divided into 
thirteen provinces, which are called atolu, each with a governor, 
the atoluveri. These provinces are often conterminous with the 
atolls , whence arose this term. Ethnologically the group divides 
itself into four divisions. First the northern atolls are separated 
from the central atolls by the Kardiva Channel. This is 35 miles 
broad, and, as the cross-currents during the monsoons are usually 
of great force, it forms a natural geographical boundary. The 
northern atolls, being further distant from the equator, are subject 
to more violent storms than the southern ones; their reefs too 
are less perfect, never indeed forming quiet lagoons in the centre. 
The coast pirates, Mopillahs and others, constantly ravaged them. 
As a consequence of these conditions they have bred a hardier 
race of people than the rest. The people annually visited the 
west coast of India and Ceylon, often concluding treaties on their 
own account with the rajahs of the coast against the pirates. 
Many married Indian wives, and the people approximate closely 
to the Mahommedans of the south-west of the Peninsula. 
The central division includes ten atolls, from North Male to 
Haddumati, situated within comparatively short distances of one 
another. The people were under the direct rule of the sultan, and, 
whatsoever affected Male, the capital, influenced all. Formerly 
trade was carried on with Arabia and Malaysia, both in Maldivan 
and foreign bottoms. Many Arabs settled in the group, and the 
1 I am indebted to the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society and 
the British Association for financial assistance in carrying out this work. I am 
also under great obligations to Mr C. Forster Cooper, my companion, for his ready 
assistance at all times. 
