The Maldives archipelago was believed to have been initially settled by fishermen from neighboring India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), shipwrecked sailors, and other ancient travellers in the Indian Ocean.
Lying at the crossroads of the ancient sea trade routes, linking the East and the West, the Maldives Archipelago has borne and assimilated numerous religious and cultural onslaughts. Ancient Sun Worship, Hinduism and Buddhism were known to have flourished in the country.
One of the most important factors that contributed to the settlement of the Maldives is its geographic location. It is conceivable that ancient navigators would have come upon the Maldive Archipelago, almost straddling the Equator. Massive ruins and other archeological remains found in the atolls and islands bordering the Equatorial Channel and the One and a Half Degree Channel in the south, bear testimony to the fact that people of antiquity did indeed come upon these islands.
Various customs, traditional practices and superstitious beliefs that still prevail in the country attest to the influence of the early Dravidian culture on the Maldives.
It is believed that Buddhism came to the Maldives during the latter centuries BC or early AD. Temple ruins, votive implements and other relics still being unearthed in different parts of the archipelago, testify that Buddhist civilization reached its apex between the ninth and twelfth centuries AD, in the Maldives. |
