ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Maldives. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Maldives. Consisting of a 500-mile-long string of 26 atolls in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives achieved independence in 1965 after 78 years as British protectorate. A 1968 referendum set up a republican government, ending 815 years of rule by the ad-Din sultanate. Maldivians cannot change their government through elections and face restrictions on freedom of expression and many other basic rights. The 1998 presidential referendum took place "in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation," according to Amnesty International. The Maldives has no known nongovernmental human rights groups.
