Atolls of The Maldives - Neighboring Island Groups

Neighboring Island Groups

The Maldive atolls are part of the long submerged mountain range that extends from the Laccadives, or Lakshadweep, in the north, to the Chagos in the south. Northern Maldivians used to visit often Maliku, Minicoy Island, before the 1960s when it was allowed for them to do so. In fact, Minicoy was called 'Avatteri Maliku', which means 'neighbor Maliku'. But even Northern Maldivians knew little about the Laccadive islands further north.

The Laccadives are different in structure from the Maldives. The most conspicuous fact is the absence of large atolls and the low density of reef and island structures. Most reefs have only one island on them.

In the south of Maldives the Chagos Archipelago is known as Hollhavai (Fōlhavahi in official Divehi). But even in these remote and strongly oceanic Southern Maldive atolls, knowledge about their neighboring island group is only vague and fragmentary. The Chagos group is a combination of different coralline structures. Unlike in the Maldives there is not a clearly discernible pattern of arrayed atolls, which makes the whole archipelago look somewhat chaotic.

However, one of the atolls of the Chagos, Peros Banhos, is very similar in structure to the typical Maldive atoll. Although it is rather small by Maldive standards, it is the largest emerged atoll in the Chagos. Peros Banhos is approximately as large as Northern Nilandhe Atoll.