Formal Name: Republic of Maldives.

Short Name: Maldives.

Term for Citizens: Maldivian(s).

Capital: Male.

Date of Independence: July 26, 1965 (from Britain).

GEOGRAPHY

Size: Approximately 298 square kilometers.

Topography: Includes some 1,200 coral islands grouped in double chain of twenty-seven atolls. Most atolls are ringshaped coral reefs supporting five to ten inhabited islands and twenty to sixty uninhabited islands. Average size of islands one to two kilometers and height of 1.5 meters above sea level.

Climate: Relatively high humidity but sea breezes stir air. Dry season of northeast monsoon December through March rainy season of southwest monsoon April through October. Annual rainfall 2,540 millimeters in north, 3,810 millimeters in south.

Data as of August 1994