Maldives,[12] officially the Republic of Maldives,[nb 1] is an island nation in the Indian Ocean

Arabian Sea area, consisting of a double chain of twenty-six atolls, oriented north-south, that lie
between Minicoy Island (the southernmost part of Lakshadweep, India) and the Chagos
Archipelago. The chains stand in the Laccadive Sea, and the capital, Mal, is about 600
kilometres (370 mi) south-west of India and 750 kilometres (470 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka.
From the mid-sixteenth century, the Maldives was dominated by colonial powers: Portugal, the
Netherlands and Britain. The islands gained independence from the British Empire in 1965, and
in 1968 became a republic ruled by a president and an authoritarian government.
The Maldives archipelago is located atop the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast
submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean. Maldives also form a terrestrial ecoregion
together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep.[13] The Maldives atolls encompass a territory
spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), making the country one of the
world's most geographically dispersed. Its population of 328,536 (2012) inhabits 192 of its 1,192
islands.[14] In 2006, Maldives' capital and largest city Mal, located at the southern edge of North
Mal Atoll, had a population of 103,693.[15][16] Mal is one of the Maldives' administrative
divisions and, traditionally, it was the "King's Island" where the ancient Maldives royal dynasties
were enthroned.
The Maldives is the smallest Asian country in both population and land area. With an average
ground level elevation of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level, it is the planet's lowest country.
[17]
It is also the country with the lowest natural highest point in the world, at 2.4 metres (7 ft
10 in).[17] Future inundation of the Maldives due to rising sea levels is of great concern to its
people, motivating the government to have pledged to become a carbon-neutral country by 2019.
[18]