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Maldives
/ History / Early Settlers
Legend has it that a prince and his wife, the
daughter of the King of today's Sri Lanka, stopped
at Raa Atoll during a voyage and were invited
to stay as rulers.
Later
King Koimala and his wife settled in Malé with
permission of the Giraavaru tribe, the aboriginal
tribe of Kaafu atoll. Nowadays Giraavaru people
are still easily recognisable through their clothes
and hairstyle, but only a few hundred of them
are left and were resettled in Malé in 1978. Their
island, Giraavaru has been transformed into a
tourist resort.
Aryans
from India and Sri Lanka are believed to have
settled in the Maldives from 1500 BC onwards -
according to latest archaeological findings. "Elu",
an archaic form of Sinhala (spoken in Sri Lanka)
shows great similarities to Dhivehi.
As
a favourite stop-over on the busy trade routes,
the Maldives have had many visitors and influences,
trading with Arabia, China and India with coconut,
dried fish and above all the precious cowry shell,
a small white shell found on the beach, used as
currency in countries near the Indian Ocean. These
shells were found as far away as Norway or West
Africa showing the extent of the trade relations
of the Maldives.
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