Excerpta Maldiviana

The book contains an historical account of Maldives. It was a series of papers, mostly taken most taken from documents originally in Divehi; published during 1922-1926 in the Journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. It is mostly a comprehensive catalogue of historical documents on the islands, compiled by a British civil servant who went there many times over several decades spanning the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. The history of the Maldives is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia and Indian Ocean; and the modern nation consisting of 26 natural atolls, comprising 1194 islands. Historically, the Maldives had a strategic importance because of its location on the major marine routes of the Indian Ocean. After the 16th century, when colonial powers took over much of the trade in the Indian Ocean, first the Portuguese, then the Dutch and the French occasionally meddled in local politics. The earliest written history of the Maldives is marked by the arrival of Sinhalese people, who were descended from the exiled Magadha Prince Vijaya from the ancient city known as Sinhapura in North East India. The book is a uniquely useful research instrument though probably more than an average reader would be capable of digesting. It contains interesting old photographs and reproductions of ancient documents.