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- Updated: 06 Aug 2013
- published: 12 Mar 2010
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- author: AsiaTravelTV
Malé މާލެ |
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— City — | |
Malé harbour | |
Coordinates: 4°10′31″N 73°30′32″E / 4.17528°N 73.50889°ECoordinates: 4°10′31″N 73°30′32″E / 4.17528°N 73.50889°E | |
Country | Maldives |
Geographic atoll | North Malé Atoll |
Government | |
• Mayor | Maizan Ali Maniku |
Area | |
• Total | 5.789 km2 (2.235 sq mi) |
Population (2006) | |
• Total | 103,693 |
• Density | 18,000/km2 (46,000/sq mi) |
Malé (/ˈmɑːl.eɪ/; /məːle/; Dhivehi: މާލެ), is the capital and most populous city in the Republic of Maldives. It is located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll (Kaafu Atoll). It is also one of the Administrative divisions of the Maldives. Traditionally it was the King's Island, from where the ancient Maldive Royal dynasties ruled and where the palace was located. The city was also called Mahal. Formerly it was a walled city surrounded by fortifications and gates (doroshi). The Royal Palace (Gan'duvaru) was destroyed along with the picturesque forts (kotte) and bastions (buruzu) when the city was remodelled under President Ibrahim Nasir's rule after the abolition of the monarchy. However, the beautifully decorated Malé Hukuru Miskiy remains. In recent years, the island has been considerably expanded through landfilling operations. Over the years there have been many coup attempts and protests centered in Male as a result of demand for greater democracy in the Maldives.[citation needed]
Contents |
This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. |
Although Malé is geographically located in Male, Kaafu Atoll, administratively it is not considered part of it. The central part of the city is formed by Malé Island. Three more islands are part of the city. A commercial harbour is located on Malé Island. It is the heart of all commercial activities in the country.
The central island is heavily urbanized, with the built-up area taking up essentially its entire landmass. Slightly less than one third of the nation's population lives in the capital city, and the population has increased from 20,000 people in 1987 to 100,000 people in 2006. Many, if not most, Maldivians and foreign workers in Maldives find themselves in occasional short term residence on the island since it is the only entry point to the nation and the centre of all administration and bureaucracy.
Male is a conservative Muslim city. Although tourists visiting the outer island resorts may feel the country is very westernized, the City of Male itself is very different.[citation needed]
Maldivian, the airline of the Maldives, has its head office in Malé.[1] In addition, the airline FlyMe has its headquarters on the fifth floor of the Villa House in Malé.[2]
Malé has a tropical wet and dry climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city features wet and dry seasons, with the wet season lasting from May through December and the dry season covering the remaining four months. Unlike a number of cities with this climate, Malé experiences relatively consistent temperatures throughout the course of the year, with average high temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius and average low temperatures of 27 degrees Celsius. The city averages slightly more than 1600 mm of precipitation annually.
Climate data for Malé | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 32 (90) |
32 (90) |
33 (91) |
37 (99) |
37 (99) |
34 (93) |
32 (90) |
32 (90) |
32 (90) |
33 (91) |
33 (91) |
32 (90) |
37 (99) |
Average high °C (°F) | 29 (84) |
29 (84) |
30 (86) |
31 (88) |
31 (88) |
30 (86) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
30 (86) |
Average low °C (°F) | 26 (79) |
26 (79) |
27 (81) |
27 (81) |
27 (81) |
28 (82) |
28 (82) |
29 (84) |
29 (84) |
28 (82) |
28 (82) |
27 (81) |
27.5 (81.5) |
Record low °C (°F) | 26 (79) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
26 (79) |
25 (77) |
26 (79) |
26 (79) |
26 (79) |
26 (79) |
26 (79) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
Precipitation mm (inches) | 46 (1.81) |
18 (0.71) |
23 (0.91) |
58 (2.28) |
178 (7.01) |
295 (11.61) |
226 (8.9) |
198 (7.8) |
160 (6.3) |
185 (7.28) |
140 (5.51) |
86 (3.39) |
1,613 (63.5) |
Avg. rainy days | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 17 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 4 | 93 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 248.0 | 259.9 | 279.0 | 246.0 | 223.2 | 201.0 | 226.3 | 210.8 | 201.0 | 235.6 | 225.0 | 220.1 | 2,775.9 |
Source no. 1: BBC Weather[3] | |||||||||||||
Source no. 2: Hong Kong Observatory.[4] |
The city is divided into six divisions, four of which are on Malé Island: Henveiru, Galolhu, Maafannu and Macchangolhi. The nearby island of Vilingili, formerly a tourist resort and prior to that a prison, is the fifth division (Vilimalé). The sixth division is Hulhumalé, an artificial island settled since 2004. In addition, the airport Island Hulhule is part of the city. There are plans for creating a port island on Gulhi Falu reef.[5]
Nr. | Division | Area (ha) |
Population Census 2006 |
Population Density |
Coordinates | Remarks |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Henveiru | 59.1 | 23,597 | 39,927.2 | 04°10′37″S 73°30′48″E / 4.17694°S 73.51333°E | Malé Island |
2 | Galolhu | 27.6 | 19,414 | 70,340.6 | ... | Malé Island |
3 | Machchangolhi | 32.6 | 19,580 | 60,061.3 | ... | Malé Island |
4 | Maafannu | 75.9 | 29,964 | 39,478.3 | ... | Malé Island |
1-4 | Malé (Island) | 195.2 | 92,555 | 47,415.5 | 04°10′28″S 73°30′34″E / 4.17444°S 73.50944°E | Malé Island |
5 | Vilimalé | 31.8 | 6,956 | 21,874.2 | ... | Villingili Island |
6 | Hulhumalé | 200.9 | 2,866 | 1,426.6 | ... | artificial island |
- | Hulhule | 151.9 | 1,316 | 866.4 | ... | airport island |
- | Gulhi Falhu | - | - | - | ... | planned port island |
Malé (city) | 579.8 | 103,693 | 17,884.3 | 04°10′28″S 73°30′34″E / 4.17444°S 73.50944°E |
The Island of Malé is the equal fourth most densely populated island in the world, and it is the 168th most populous island in the world. Since there is no surrounding countryside, all infrastructure has to be located in the city itself. Water is provided from desalinated ground water; the water works pumps brackish water from 50-60m deep wells in the city and desalinates that using reverse osmosis.[6] Electric power is generated in the city using diesel generators.[7] Sewage is pumped unprocessed into the sea.[8] Solid waste is transported to nearby islands, where it is used to fill in lagoons. The airport was built in this way, and currently the Thilafushi lagoon is being filled in.[9][10]
Many government buildings and agencies are located on the waterfront. Malé International Airport is on adjacent Hulhule Island which includes a seaplane base for internal transportation. Several land reclamation projects have expanded the harbour.
The name Malé is taken from the word महालय "Mahaalay" which has come from the Sanskrit language.[citation needed] The name is derived from मह maha, meaning "big" or "great" and आलय aalay meaning house.[citation needed] Generally the word Mahaalay is used for the palace of a king or capital (king's island) in Sanskrit, e.g. Mahaalay of King Asok.[11] However, the folktale below suggests a different origin of the name.
The whole island group, the Maldives, is named after its capital. The word "Maldives" means "The islands (dives) of Malé'".[12]
The first settlers in the Maldive islands were Dravidian people[13] from the nearest shores, which are in the modern Indian Subcontinent and coastal Ceylon. Comparative studies of Maldivian linguistic, oral and other cultural traditions, in addition to folklore, point to a strong Dravidian influence on Maldivian society, centered in Malé, from ancient times. The people of Giraavaru, an island located in Malé Atoll (now a tourist resort, after the forced diaspora of its inhabitants) claim to descend from the first settlers of the Maldives, ancient Tamils.[14]
It is said that Giraavaru fishermen used to go regularly to a certain large sandbank (finolhu) at the southern end of their atoll to clean tuna fish after a good catch. Owing to the large amount of tuna fish offal and blood, the waters around that sandbank looked like a big pool of blood (maa ley gandeh). "Maa" (from the Sanskrit मह "Maha"), meaning big, and "Lē" meaning blood. Traditionally the first inhabitants of the Maldives, which include the Giravaru people, didn't have kings. They lived in a simple society and were ruled by local headmen. But one day a prince from the Subcontinent called Koimala arrived to Malé Atoll sailing from the North on a big ship. The people of Giraavaru spotted his vessel from afar and welcomed him. They allowed Prince Koimala to settle on that large sandbank in the midst of the waters tainted with fish blood. Trees were planted on the sandbank and it is said that the first tree that grew on it was the papaya tree. However this could refer to any tree that bears edible fruit as the archaic Dhivehi word (and Mahal word even today) for fruit was the same as that for the papaya (falhoa).[15] As time went by the local islanders accepted the rule of this Northern Prince. A palace was built and the island was formally named Maa-le (Malé), while the nearest island was named Hulhu-le.
The names of the main four wards or divisions of Malé Island are said to have been given by the aboriginal Giraavaru fishermen: Maafannu from "maa" (big) and "fannu" (a place where a village path meets the sea), Henveiru from "en-beyru" (out where fishermen got their bait), Galolhu from "galu-olhu" (stone groove) and, Macchangolhi from "mathi-angolhi" (windward path-fork).
The modern-day city was founded as a trading post by the Portuguese in the 16th century.
This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability. |
Media related to Malé at Wikimedia Commons
Stone of no value
Appeared as a diamond
Although it's always been unbroken
It's gone into a dream long ago
And you're white page again
You efface words with rain
That bitter like a wormwood
You will find your breathe
In unwritten verses
When you master their plot
You're white page again
You efface words with rain
That bitter like a wormwood
Her touch of your burnt feelings
Will never come back
Wormwood - your sing
You fight with dream and night
That is memory's queen
Everything is being brought to dust
In your inner-self and together with you
In the gallery of phantoms and shadows
You stand stock still alone
With new hour hoping
Something will let you move
But again
Rough pencil scrawls of what could have been...
Bright flowers there were
I somehow couldn't catch their scent it seemed
Colours weren't quite right... ?
A fumbled tickle of summer sandblasted by the jackbooted night
Sun went down
Moon rose
We basked in the whitewash somewhere near opaque silence
Just as ghosts in a storm of black noise...
Cold fixed stars shining all over the tight tarpaulin of unsun void only.
Separation
All stars screaming
... needle holes in heaven...
Another nameless soul on the blacklist
Snorted the sun, saved the moon for morning
Now awaiting further gathering of the clouds
Bathed in grey stroke black
-no way out it keeps coming back
Noise preventing rebirth
We bathe in shreds of whispering glass
Moon fell
Sun cried
Kept the dragon down, chasing the moon now
With my teeth? And claws!
Down dragon
Moon chased
Teeth wide open
Claws at your pretty throat
Afell asun, arose athunder!
I am an e-flat mage
Chemical curses on the rampage
Head full of daggers
For the backs of random strangers
I suggest you keep an eye or three
Upon your enemies... my dear!
Accidental summer caught mid coitus
Smiling winter zips the up
... Saunters aways with a whistle
Whilst the good weather bleeds rain, torn asunder
... Tears for the cold dried only by their owner