Was maldives a british colony. British colonial era map of the maldives islands the british expelled the dutch from ceylon in 1796 and included maldives as a protected state. Independence from the united kingdom came in 1965 and a presidential republic was established in 1968 with an elected peoples majlis. The british colonial policy was to a very large extent based on trade.
Maldives was a british protectorate until 1965 but did not inherit a full parliamentary system unlike other former colonies. It consists of about 1200 low lying small coral islands and sandbanks only some 200 of which are inhabited the most populous of which is male. In 1965 the maldive islands attained full political independence from the british and in 1968 a new republic was inaugurated and the sultanate abolished.
The other alternative was to make the maldives a full fledged british colony. The soviet union requested use of the base but maldives refused. The last british troops left on march 29 1976 the date thereafter celebrated in the maldives as independence day.
The british departure in 1976 almost immediately triggered foreign speculation about the future of the air base. The countrys largest industries include fishing tourism and shipping. The following is a timeline of important events in the story of independence with commentary from historian mohamed shathir.
The maldives hosted a british air base on the island of gan in addu atoll between 1957 and 1967. The british who had been maldives last colonial power continued to maintain an air base on the island of gan in the southernmost atoll until 1976. We are working on new maldives pages now that they have rejoined the commonwealth.
It was evident that the maldives was not a colony per se however the government of the maldives sought the advice of british governor in ceylon on major issues. From the mid 16th century the region came under the increasing influence of european colonial powers with the maldives becoming a british protectorate in 1887.