Maldives Country Information ⋅ Natucate

Home » What Country Is Maldives Located In » Maldives Country Information ⋅ Natucate

Maybe your like

Geography of the Maldives

The country covers an area of around 90,000 square kilometres. However, only 298 km² of that is dry land, an area smaller than the city of Munich. The outstanding coastline of the Maldives is around 650 km in length. The Republic of the Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean. It is composed of multiple atolls which are made up of a total of 1196 islands, and is located in the continent of Asia. The chain of islands is to the south-west of India and Sri Lanka and stretches over 871 km. The islands have a total coastline of 650 km and are spread over 26 atolls with coral beaches. Only 220 of the 1196 islands are inhabited by Maldivians. 87 other islands are used for tourism. North Malé Atoll is one of the two largest atolls in the Maldives. It is made up of the island of Malé with the capital of Malé, the international airport on the island of Hulule and a number of major tourist islands. Another major atoll is Addu Atoll, which is home to the former British airforce base of Gan. The islands are divided into the “local islands”, where Maldivians live, and “resort islands”, which are reserved for holidaymakers.

Ein Walhai schwimmt durch den Indischen Ozean vor den Malediven

Geomorphology/Geology

The landscape of the Maldives consists of numerous atolls – circle-shaped coral reefs with a lagoon in the middle. In geological time scales these are the youngest formations on earth. A theory for the derivation of the atolls is that corals started to grow on a volcanic underwater mountain range until they were close to the surface. The water in between these atolls is only up to a few hundred meters deep, whereas a depths of up to 4,000 m can be reached outside the Maldivian area.

Tag » What Country Is Maldives Located In