Gadhdhoo (

Dhivehi Dhivehi, also spelled Divehi, may refer to: *Dhivehi people, an ethnic group native to the historic region of the Maldive Islands. *Dhivehi language, an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by about 350,000 people in the Republic of Maldives ...

: ގައްދޫ), is the second most populated island in

Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll Gaafu Dhaalu (also known as Southern Huvadhu Atoll or Huvadhu Atholhu Dhekunuburi, ހުވަދުއަތޮޅު ދެކުނުބުރި) is an administrative district of the Maldives formed by the southwestern section of Huvadhu Atoll. It was created o ...

. It has its own dialect of Dhivehi which is considerably different from northern and mid-Maldivian speech.

History

Secession of the Suvadive Islands

In January 1959, the three southern atolls: Huvadhu,

Fuvahmulah Fuvahmulah (Dhivehi: ފުވައްމުލައް) is an island (atoll) in the Maldives. It is under Maldives’ administrative divisions of Gnaviyani Atoll or Nyaviyani Atoll. The inhabitants speak a distinctive form of the Dhivehi language, known as ...

and Addu, were involved in setting up the breakaway United Suvadive Republic which survived in Addu until September 1963. The name of the secessionist state was taken from the ancient name of this atoll. In some islands, like Gadhdhoo, there was opposition to the secession, and by means of threats and arson, the groups of people opposing the Suvadive state were forced to agree. The capital of Havaru Thinadhoo was burnt down by soldiers sent by then Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir from Malé during the secession in 1962, after which it was left uninhabited for four whole years and the atoll served its capital at Gadhdhoo more than ten(10)years.

Geography

The island is south of the country's capital,

Malé Malé (, ; dv, މާލެ) is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 252,768 and an area of , it is also one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city is geographically located at the southern ...

Demography

Economy

Gadhdhoo Kunaa

The local women of Gadhdhoo Island weave beautiful mats with patterns in three colors, off-white, yellow and black. These mats are woven using the strands of the bark of

Hibiscus tiliaceus ''Hibiscus tiliaceus'', commonly known as the sea hibiscus or coast cottonwood, is a species of flowering tree in the mallow family, Malvaceae, with a pantropical distribution along coastlines. It has also been introduced to Florida and New Zea ...

(the same tree which is used for making tapa cloth in

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

and a kind of local grass called 'hau', which may be dyed in yellow or black. There are two qualities, thinner mats woven with simple knot, or thicker, good-quality mats woven bu means of more complex knots. Traditionally the best Gadhdhoo mats were used by the Maldive Royal House in Malé. Part of the annual tribute from the Huvadu Atoll Chief to the royal court, used to be in the form of Gadhdhoo mats. Nils-Finn Munch Petersen and Annegrethe Ottovar, two Danish anthropologists visited this island in the 1970s and made extensive research about its mat production and the patterns used on them. The production of these mats has suffered much from the reckless activity of intermediaries. While a great price is fetched from the tourists, the women who wove them in Gadhdhoo Island received just a small fraction of the amount. Consequently, production and quality declined during the 1980s and have not recovered since. Young girls refused to go through the difficult and long period of apprenticeship because of the low revenue that could be expected in the future.

Transport

The island is served by Maavarulu Airport.

References

* Ottovar, Annagrethe & Munch Petersen, Nils Finn. ''Maldiverne; Et Øsamfund I Det Indiske Ocean''. Kunstindustriemuseet. Copenhagen 1980. Islands of the Maldives {{Maldives-geo-stub