Timeline Maldives

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History: http://www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/maldives_romero_history.shtml
        A republic of a 500-mile chain of islands about 400 miles south of India and about 300 miles southwest of Sri Lanka. It has a population of 278,000. The people are Sunni Muslims. Only 200 of the republic’s 1,192 coral islands are inhabited.
    (SFEC,11/2/97, p.T14)(AP, 11/11/03)

Male, the capital of the Maldives, lies 3 feet above sea level.
    (SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)
1153        A wandering Arab holy man converted the king of the Buddhist Maldive islanders.
    (WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A12)

1552        Jan 14, Maldive King Siri Dhrikusa Loka (Hassan IX) was baptized in Cochin, India.
    (www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/maldives_romero_history.shtml)

1600-1700    Grass mats called kunai were made on the island of Gadu and sent by the Maldivian sultan as part of an annual tribute to the kingdom of Sri Lanka. The “Fine Mat Industry of the Suvadiva Atoll” by Andrew Forbes was publ. by the British Museum.
    (WSJ, 7/22/96, p.A12)

1887        The Maldives became a protectorate of Great Britain.
    (www.pjsymes.com.au/articles/Maldives(article).htm)

1932        The Maldives adopted its 1st constitution.
    (www.pjsymes.com.au/articles/Maldives(article).htm)

1947        Aug 12, The People’s Majlis passed Bill No. 2/66 on the Maldivian monetary system. The committee consisted of Government Ministers and Members of the People’s Majlis.
    (www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/index.html)

1953        The Maldives, formerly a Sultanate, was declared a republic. The Sultanate was re-stored after 15 months.
    (www.pjsymes.com.au/articles/Maldives(article).htm)

1957        Ibrahim Nasir (31) became prime minister of the Maldives, a British protectorate.
    (AP, 11/23/08)

1959-1962    The government of Maldives was challenged by a local secessionist movement in the southern atolls that benefited economically from the British presence on Gan. This group cut ties with the Maldives government and formed an independent state with Abdulla Afif Didi as president. The short-lived state, called the United Suvadivan Republic, had a combined popula-tion of 20,000 inhabitants scattered in the atolls then named Suvadiva.
    (www.findmaldives.com/Maldives-Independence.html)

1965        Jul 26, Republic of Maldives gained independence from Britain.
    (www.findmaldives.com/Maldives-Independence.html)

1968        Nov 11, The Maldives became a republic for a 2nd time with Ibrahim Naseer (Nasir) as President.
    (www.pjsymes.com.au/articles/Maldives(article).htm)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.54)(AP, 11/11/08)

1978        Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan (1926-2008) relinquished the position of the President of the Maldives Republic. He was accused of ruling the country as a dictator and fled amid public resentment and unproven allegations of corruption in handling public funds. For the first time in recorded Maldive history, the head of state of the Maldives ceased to be either a King-sultan (Queen-sultana) or a descendant of a King-sultan.
    (www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/maldives_commonwealth.shtml)(AP, 11/23/08)

1978        Maumoon Abdul Gayoom became president of the Maldives.
    (WSJ, 1/3/05, p.A7)

1982        The Maldives applied for and was granted membership in the British Commonwealth of Nations.
    (www.maldivesroyalfamily.com/maldives_commonwealth.shtml)

1985        The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with the aim of promoting economic cooperation and alleviating poverty in South Asia. Members included Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
    (AP, 11/13/05)

1997        Jun 24, Maldives Pres. Abdul Gayoom said that the survival of the island nation was de-pendent on halting the process of global warming.
    (SFC, 6/25/97, p.A2)

1997        The Maldives adopted a new constitution, which enshrined Pres. Gayoom as head of state, government, judiciary and the security forces.
    (Econ, 12/23/06, p.54)

1999        Dec 3, In the Maldives a helicopter crashed enroute to Male and killed all 10 people on-board.
    (SFC, 12/4/99, p.A14)

2003        Sep 19, In the Maldives unrest erupted at the Maafushi prison after a young man named Evan Naseem was tortured to death. Police opened fire and 3 people were killed. Violent riots followed as did a state of emergency.
    (Econ, 12/23/06, p.54)

2003        Sep 21, The leader of the Maldives appealed for calm after two days of rioting killed 3 people and sent shock waves through this tiny Indian Ocean island nation.
    (AP, 9/21/03)

2003        Nov 11, Maldives Pres. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (65) was sworn in for a record sixth term, becoming the longest-serving head of state in Asia.
    (AP, 11/11/03)

2004        Mar 17, The Maldives ferry Enamaa was carrying far more than its capacity of up to 100 when a wave overturned it. At least 18 people were killed. More than 50 others were missing.
    (AP, 3/18/04)

2004        Dec 26, The world's most powerful earthquake in 40 years triggered massive tidal waves that slammed into villages and seaside resorts across southern and southeast Asia. The initial estimated death toll of 9,000 soon rose to some 230,000 people in 14 countries. The magnitude 9.0 earthquake was the world's fifth-largest since 1900 and the largest since a 9.2 temblor hit Prince William Sound Alaska in 1964. The epicenter was located 155 miles south-southeast of Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province on Sumatra, and six miles under the seabed of the Indian Ocean. In Indonesia at least 166,320 people were killed.
Bangladesh reported 2 killed; India: at least 9,691 deaths: thousands were missing and possibly dead in India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia: At least 101,318 people were killed on Sumatra island and small islands off its coast. Kenya reported 1 killed. Malaysia: At least 68 people, including an unknown number of foreign tourists, were dead. Myanmar: At least 90 people were killed. Sri Lanka: At least 30,680 were killed in government and rebel con-trolled areas. The Maldives, an archipelago of 1,190 low-lying coral islands and a tiny population of 280,000, at least 82 people were killed and missing. At least 42 islands were flat-tened in the low-lying atoll nation. Somalia: At least 298 were killed. Tanzania: At least 10 killed. Thailand: The confirmed death toll for Thailand reached 5,322, but many suspected Myanmar migrants were not counted.
    (SFC, 12/28/04, p.A1)(AP, 12/30/04)(SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A12)(AP, 1/7/05)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.41)(AP, 12/25/09)
2004        Dec 26, In the Maldives at least 117 people were killed and missing, among them two British tourists. At least 42 islands were flattened in the low-lying atoll nation.
    (SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)

2005        Jan 2, Some 1,500 people inhabited the artificial Maldive island of Hulhumale. Some $60 million had already been spent on its creation and completion was expected in 2040.
    (SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)

2005        Jan 22, Maldivians cast votes to elect a parliament, three weeks after the election was postponed because of the Indian Ocean tsunami. Police arrested 20 opposition backers.
    (AP, 1/22/05)(WSJ, 1/24/05, p.A1)

2005        Jun 2, The Maldives ushered in a new political era when parliament voted to allow par-ties to form for the first time in the remote Indian Ocean archipelago, a move that ended centuries of autocratic rule. The law passed in July.
    (Reuters, 6/2/05)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.55)

2005        Nov 12, In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a 2-day summit aimed to alleviate poverty and boost trade and cooperation among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Leaders called for greater cooperation within the region to deal with the aftermath of disasters like the Kashmir earthquake and last year's devastating tsunami.
    (AFP, 11/12/05)

2005         An estimated 80,000 people lived in the Maldives on less than 1.2 square miles.
    (SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)

2006        The population of the Maldives numbered about 300,000. Some 100,000 were packed into the 2 square kilometers of the capital, Male, the most densely populated town in the world.
    (Econ, 12/23/06, p.53)

2007        Aug 19, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom won an overwhelming victory in a referen-dum on the Maldives' future form of government, a poll seen as an informal vote of confidence in his three-decade rule of the tiny Indian Ocean nation.
    (AP, 8/19/07)

2007        Sep 29, A bomb exploded at the entrance to a recreation park in the Maldives, wounding at least 12 foreign tourists.
    (AP, 9/29/07)

2008        Jan 8, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (70), the Maldives president, survived an assassination attempt when boy scout Mohammed Jaisham Ibrahim (15) grabbed the knife of an attacker who jumped out of a crowd of people greeting the president.
    (AP, 1/9/08)(AP, 1/10/08)

2008        Aug 2, In Sri Lanka a two-day summit of leaders of the 15th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), opened amid extraordinary security. Leaders of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, The Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka attended the summit. Government troops captured rebel-held Vellankulam village in Mannar, the last rebel stronghold in the area. Fresh fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger separatists killed 14 re-bels and two soldiers across the embattled northern region.
    (AP, 8/2/08)(AP, 8/3/08)

2008        Aug 7, Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom signed and adopted a new consti-tution that allows multiparty elections and other democratic reforms after decades of authoritarian rule.
    (AP, 8/7/08)

2008        Oct 8, Maldives islanders in the cramped city of Male and scores of far-flung atolls be-gan voting in the first democratic presidential election in their tiny nation's history.
    (AP, 10/8/08)

2008        Oct 9, Poll results in the Maldives indicated President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to be headed for a runoff against Mohamed Nasheed , a former political prisoner who leads the main opposition.
    (AP, 10/9/08)

2008        Oct 28, Voters turned out in strength to choose the Maldives' first democratically-elected president in a run-off between Asia's longest serving leader and a former political prisoner. Nasheed won 54% of the vote to Gayoom's 46%, according to provisional results from the na-tion's elections commission.
    (AP, 10/28/08)(AP, 10/29/08)

2008        Nov 11, Mohamed Nasheed took the oath of office as the Maldives' first democratically elected president. He now leads the flattest nation on Earth, with an average height of 2.3 me-ters (7 feet) above sea level, and one considered particularly vulnerable to the perils of global climate change and rising sea levels.
    (AP, 11/11/08)

2008        Nov 22, Ibrahim Nasir (b.1926), who led the Maldives' independence movement from the British and became the island nation's first president, died in Singapore.
    (AP, 11/23/08)

2008        The population of the Maldives stood at about 370,000 people.
    (Econ, 11/1/08, p.52)

2009        Oct 17, Members of the Maldives' Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals at an underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming to the lowest-lying na-tion on earth.
    (AP, 10/17/09)

2010        The 42-member Alliance of Small Island States called on the industrial nations in 1997 to cut emissions 20% from 1990 levels by this time.
    (SFC, 6/25/97, p.A2)

2040        The artificial island of Hulhumale was expected to be completed with a population of around 150,000.
    (SSFC, 1/2/05, p.A10)

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