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Gnaviyani Atoll
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Gnaviyani Atoll is one of the administrative divisions of the Maldives. It corresponds to the island known as Fuvammulah in the local language and Fua Mulaku in the International Navigational Charts and by H. C. P. Bell, the first person who made serious research on the Maldives. Until the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen II, Fuvammulah was considered to be a part of Addu Atoll.
Surfacewise this is the smallest administrative unit in the Maldives, situated in the Equatorial Channel (Addu Kandu) between Huvadhu Atoll and Addu Atoll.
Fuvammulah is not a true (or natural) atoll, for it consists of only one island, which is, however, one of the largest islands in the Maldives, with a land area of 4,2 kmē.
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Encyclopedia
Gnaviyani Atoll is one of the administrative divisions of the Maldives. It corresponds to the island known as Fuvammulah in the local language and Fua Mulaku in the International Navigational Charts and by H. C. P. Bell, the first person who made serious research on the Maldives. Until the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shamsuddeen II, Fuvammulah was considered to be a part of Addu Atoll.
Surfacewise this is the smallest administrative unit in the Maldives, situated in the Equatorial Channel (Addu Kandu) between Huvadhu Atoll and Addu Atoll.
Fuvammulah is not a true (or natural) atoll, for it consists of only one island, which is, however, one of the largest islands in the Maldives, with a land area of 4,2 kmē. The original name of the island is Mulah but was called Fuvammulah (the Mulah with the arecanut palms) to distinguish it from Boli Mulah- another important island in ancient Maldives .
Fua Mulaku was traditionally divided into nine villages (clockwise from the northern end): Dhadimago, Hodhado, Malegan, Dundigan, Funado, Miskimmago, Dhashokubai, Madhado and Diguvando. Nowadays the number of villages has been reduced to eight, since the village of Dashokubai was merged with Miskimmago. Fua Mulaku is very much dependent on the nearby Addu atoll, which have a good infrastructure, an airport and a regional hospital.
This island was depopulated and resettled twice in the last thousand years owing to lethal epidemics.
This island is known by geographers as Fua Mulaku. This name is more widely known. The origin of this name is in the ancient local poem 'Rashoveshi' where the name of the island in the first line is in the vocative:
"Fua Mulaku nan ive medu adi fen heu rashe..."
Aware of the extent of this problem, Maldivian expert Mr. Ibrahim Luthfee wrote a book on Maldivian geography before he died. With this book, which is unfortunately available only in Divehi, the late Mr. Luthfee tried to clear a number of misconceptions that carelessly researched tourist publications have generalized even among Maldivians. Much of this article has been translated and adapted from his posthumous work.
NOTE: Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Kaafu, etc. (including Gnaviyani) are code letters assigned to the present administrative divisions of the Maldives. They are not the proper names of the natural atolls that make up these divisions. Some atolls are divided into two administrative divisions while other divisions are made up of two or more natural atolls. The order followed by the code letters is from North to South, beginning with the first letters of the Thaana alphabet used in Dhivehi. These code letters are not accurate from the geographical and cultural point of view. However, they have become popular among tourists and foreigners in the Maldives who find them easier to pronounce than the true atoll names in Dhivehi, (save a few exceptions, like Ari Atoll).
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