An island country in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka, consisting of 19 atolls made up of more than 2,000 coral islands. Settled by various groups from southern Asia, the islands were converted to Islam in the 12th century. The Maldives became a self-governing British protectorate in 1887 and achieved independence as a sultanate (1965) and subsequently as a republic (1968). Male is the capital. Population: 369,000.



















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14 comments

  1. bobcat999 // September 14, 2008 2:17 AM  

    Wow, nice pictures... Thanks for posting them.

  2. DJ // September 20, 2008 2:32 AM  

    Absolutely beautiful. I have never seen water and sky such a perfect shade of paradise. Thanks for sharing!

  3. jimmy // October 1, 2008 7:42 AM  

    Heaven on Earth huh? Where is all the forests and mountains?

  4. delirium // October 1, 2008 10:58 PM  

    amazing. did you take these photos yourself? i wonder which other beaches could compete with maldives'?

  5. DarioStereo // October 3, 2008 9:11 PM  

    Those are absolutely amazing! Reminds me of Fiji.....

  6. Alan // October 5, 2008 9:48 PM  

    What is going on in that 5th photo, the one that appears to be a reading room underwater within an acrylic plastic arched hall ? Is that under the open ocean ? I've seen an arched acrylic wallway at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, but that was in a man made lagoon...this looks like the open ocean...WOW !

  7. estaban // October 6, 2008 6:27 AM  

    Beautiful photos and a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing. However... Heaven is not a destination, it is within you.

  8. luckycharm4me // October 7, 2008 2:08 PM  

    This is awesome...
    Take me there already.

  9. Solace // October 23, 2008 9:03 AM  

    Oh my! I think I've found my new place to live

  10. nigel // October 26, 2008 7:18 AM  

    in reply to Alan, the 5th picture is the underwater restaurant on the Hilton Island in South Ari atol. it offers about 28 courses !! at one sitting, ie you get everything on the menu in small amounts, 5 starters, souffle, 6 main courses, loads of puddings and cheeses etc, really cool with sharks swimming by as you eat.

  11. jodapoet // November 10, 2008 4:16 AM  

    The photos are glorious. I can certainly see a little bit of heaven there.

  12. Maldives // November 27, 2008 8:34 PM  

    good pictures

  13. Misha // December 23, 2008 8:21 AM  

    too bad that the islands are sinking and all the locals will have to move somewhere else!

  14. Rich Johnson // January 12, 2009 2:34 AM  

    This looks like a very sophistocated resort. Very beautiful but my preference is for something a bit more "Native".

    Rich Johnson

In Between Meals