Maldives country guide — reviewed 25 October 2026 Public routes: /atlas/maldives and /facts/mv READING Country, geography, history, language and food overviews: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_the_Maldives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Maldives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhivehi_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldivian_cuisine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baa_Atoll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal%C3%A9_Friday_Mosque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_(Maldives) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koagannu Further institutional references: https://www.mma.gov.mv/ — currency and economic context https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Maldives_2008 — constitutional text https://www.unesco.org/en/mab/baa-atoll — biosphere reserve programme https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5812/ — Coral Stone Mosques tentative listing https://visitmaldives.com/ — official visitor information https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/maldives — current entry and local-law advice Natural atolls are distinct from administrative divisions. Hulhumalé is not Hulhulé airport island. Independence in 1965 is distinct from the 1968 republic. UNESCO biosphere reserves and Tentative List entries are not World Heritage inscriptions. Resort and inhabited-island accommodation coexist. No undated population share, tourism GDP share, elevation record or future carbon-neutral promise is presented as a current measured fact. No Dhivehi course is invented. MAP SOURCES AND LICENCES Most land: geoBoundaries gbOpen MDV ADM0, boundary ID MDV-ADM0-21348113, represented year 2021, build 12 December 2023, CC BY 4.0. Source metadata names Sentinel-2 10-Meter Land Use/LandCover. Full metadata is retained in scripts/maldives-outline-metadata.json and exact geometry in scripts/maldives-outline-source.geojson. https://www.geoboundaries.org/api/current/gbOpen/MDV/ADM0/ https://github.com/wmgeolab/geoBoundaries/raw/9469f09/releaseData/gbOpen/MDV/ADM0/geoBoundaries-MDV-ADM0.geojson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The geoBoundaries land reference omits Fuvahmulah. Its island coastline is supplemented from OpenStreetMap way 223971265, retrieved through Nominatim on 25 October 2026. Exact supplement: scripts/maldives-fuvahmulah-source.geojson. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/223971265 © OpenStreetMap contributors — Open Database Licence 1.0 (ODbL). https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/ The combined downloadable land database is supplied under ODbL, retaining geoBoundaries attribution and the CC BY 4.0 notice for that source component. node scripts/build-maldives-map.mjs rebuilds public/maldives-land.geojson, public/maldives-cities.geojson, src/lib/atlas/mv.ts and the place-name registry. The ten approximate settlement/island centres are retained in scripts/maldives-map-places.json with their English Wikipedia article titles. The names distinguish Gan in Addu and Maafushi in Kaafu from namesakes. All ten pins are on the combined source land, including Fuvahmulah. Boundaries are learning references, not legal surveys, maritime limits or current cadastral maps. Some small islands and post-2021 reclamation remain absent. SIGHTS Ten curated learning locations include representative island pins for Utheemu, Hulhumalé and Fuvahmulah, and a representative water pin for Hanifaru Bay. The old mosque, museum and Koagannu coordinates follow their Wikipedia summaries. The Islamic Centre summary duplicates the old mosque coordinates; this guide uses a separately curated approximate building location instead. Mulee-aage follows the Muliaage article coordinates; the fish market and Hanifaru Bay are curated approximate reference pins. The waterfront market is allowed a 100-metre margin beyond the dated land outline; every other land sight is strictly on source land. None is promised as an entrance, public access point, boat route or guaranteed wildlife sighting. PHOTOGRAPHS Existing local photographs in src/lib/asian-facts-heroes.json, MV entry: Geography/banner: Luka Peternel, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guriadhoo-2019-aerial-view-Luka-Peternel.jpg History: Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Male%27_Hukuru_Miskiy_4.jpg Language: ╚ DD╔, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_Ceylon_%26_Bank_of_Maldives_(1666665462).jpg Culture: Suvalex, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bodu_beru_drum.jpg Economy: Muammar1982, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fishing_Boats,_Mathiveri,_Maldives.jpg Politics: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:People%27s_Majlis_(32930964806).jpg Nature: Dr. Ondřej Havelka (cestovatel), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coral_Reef,_Indian_Ocean.jpg Food: Xavier Romero-Frias, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mas_huni-roshi087.JPG Landmarks: Andreas Faessler, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Utheemu03.jpg People: Buiobuione, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Buiobuione_Maldive_Mal%C3%A9_fish_market.jpg The displayed credit metadata remains authoritative. Banner reuses geography. QUIZZES The eighty-question fixture is an unchanged snapshot of countryDataMV in scripts/seed-asia-batch1.mjs. Nineteen read-time corrections fix misleading or outdated claims, including resort-only accommodation, unqualified GDP and population shares, the misspelled flower option and a future carbon-neutral claim. Shared review logic preserves stored IDs and learner progress. Bundled lessons support topic, numbered, random and daily facts rounds without database writes.