Maldive Islands

The Maldives or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching in a north-south direction in the Laccadive Sea, about seven hundred kilometres (435 mi) south-west of Sri Lanka. The atolls of Maldives features 1,192 islets, of which two hundred are inhabited. The Republic of Maldives's capital and largest city is Malé. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located.