The Republic of Maldives or Dhivehi Rajje’, (the land of the Dhivehi people) is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean. Its closest neighbors are India and Sri Lanka. The Laccadives lie to the North and the Chagos Group to the South.

The 26 coralline atolls that form the Maldives archipelago are situated on top of a volcanic ridge 960 kilometers in length, which runs from north to south. The only break in this natural barrier occurs only towards the south, where the One an Half Degree Channel and the Equatorial Channel allow safe passage through the archipelago. Almost all the atolls are enclosed by a coral reef which is considered to be some of the most abundant in marine life and beautiful in the whole world.

The approximately 1190 islands that make up the Maldives are small and low lying with the highest barely three meters above mean sea level. Although some larger atolls are approximately fifty kilometers long and thirty kilometers wide no individual island is longer than eight kilometers. There are no rivers or mountains in the Maldives.