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Maldives (, or ),〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Maldives )〕 officially the Republic of Maldives (''Dhivehi Raa'jeyge Jumhooriyya''), is an island country and archipelago in the Indian Ocean. It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka in the Laccadive Sea. The chain of twenty six atolls stretches from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll to the Addu Atoll. The capital and largest city is Malé, traditionally called the "King's Island". Historically linked with the Indian subcontinent, Maldives is a Muslim-majority country. From the mid-sixteenth century colonial powers dominated the islands: Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain. The islands gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, becoming a republic in 1968. The country is ruled by a president and its government is authoritarian. The Maldivian economy is dominated by tourism and fishing. The World Bank classifies the country as having an upper middle income economy.〔(Upper middle income ) World Bank. Retrieved September 18, 2015.〕 Encompassing a territory spread over roughly , Maldives is one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. It is the smallest Asian country in both land area and in population. The archipelago is located atop the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean, which also forms a terrestrial ecoregion, together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. With an average ground-level elevation of above sea level, it is the planet's lowest country. It is also the country with the lowest natural highest point in the world, at .〔 The government has pledged to make Maldives a carbon-neutral country by 2019 amid concerns about rising sea-levels. Maldives became a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and it hosted the 17th SAARC summit in 2011. It is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement. ==Etymology== The name ''Maldives'' may derive from Tamil ''maalai'' (garland) and ''theevu'' (island),〔 or මාල දිවයින ''Maala Divaina'' ("Necklace Islands") in Sinhala. The Maldivian people are called ''Dhivehin''. The word ''Theevu'' (archaic ''Dheevu'', related to Tamil தீவு ''dheevu'') means "island", and ''Dhives'' (''Dhivehin'') means "islanders" (i.e., Maldivians). The ancient Sri Lankan chronicle ''Mahawamsa'' refers to an island called ''Mahiladiva'' ("Island of Women", महिलादिभ) in Pali, which is probably a mistranslation of the same Sanskrit word meaning "garland". Jan S Hogendorn, Grossman Professor of Economics, theorises that the name ''Maldives'' derives from the Sanskrit ''mālādvīpa'' (मालाद्वीप), meaning "garland of islands".〔Hogendorn, Jan and Johnson Marion (1986). ''The Shell Money of the Slave Trade''. African Studies Series 49, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge ISBN 0521541107, pp. 20–22〕 In Tamil, "Garland of Islands" can be translated as ''MalaiTheevu'' (மாலைத்தீவு).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Altername Names for Republic of Maldives )〕 In Malayalam, "Garland of Islands" can be translated as ''Maladweepu'' (മാലദ്വീപ്). In Kannada, "Garland of Islands" can be translated as ''Maaledweepa'' (ಮಾಲೆದ್ವೀಪ). None of these names is mentioned in any literature, but classical Sanskrit texts dating back to the Vedic period mention the "Hundred Thousand Islands" (''Lakshadweepa''), a generic name which would include not only the Maldives, but also the Laccadives, Aminidivi Islands, Minicoy and the Chagos island groups.〔Apte, Vaman Shivram (1985). ''Sanskrit-English Dictionary''. Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1985.〕 Some medieval travellers such as Ibn Batuta called the islands ''Mahal Dibiyat'' (محل دبيأت) from the Arabic word ''Mahal'' ("palace"), which must be how the Berber traveller interpreted the local name, having been through Muslim North India, where Perso-Arabic words were introduced to the local vocabulary.〔Ibn Batuta ''Travels in Asia and Africa''. translated by A. R. Gibb.〕 This is the name currently inscribed on the scroll in the Maldive state emblem. The classical Persian/Arabic name for Maldives is ''Dibajat''.〔Akhbar al-Sin wa 'l-Hind (Notes on China and India), which dates from 851.〕 The Dutch referred to the islands as the "Maldivische Eilanden" (), while the British anglicised the local name for the islands first to the "Maldive Islands" and later to "Maldives". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maldives」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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