Alif Alif Atoll

Alifu Alifu Atoll
Atoll Summary
Administrative name	Alifu Alifu Atoll
Atoll name	Ari Atoll Uthuruburi
Location	4° 27' N and 3° 55' N
Letter	U
Abbreviation	AA (އއ)
Capital	Rasdhoo
Population	6140
No. of Islands	33
Inhabited Islands	8
Atoll Chief	[1]
Inhabited Islands
Bodufulhadhoo Feridhoo Himandhoo Maalhos Mathiveri Rasdhoo Thoddoo Ukulhas
Uninhabited Islands
Alikoirah, Bathalaa, Beyrumadivaru, Dhin-nolhufinolhu, Ellaidhoo, Etheramadivaru, Fesdhoo, Fusfinolhu, Fushi, Gaagandu, Gaathufushi, Gangehi, Halaveli, Kandholhudhoo, Kudafolhudhoo, Kuramathi, Maagaa, Maayyafushi, Madivarufinolhu, Madoogali, Mathivereefinolhu, Meerufenfushi, Mushimasgali, Rasdhoo madivaru, Velidhoo, Veligandu, Vihamaafaru Resort islands, Airports and Industrial islands are also considered uninhabited

Northern Ari Atoll or Alifu Alifu Atoll is an administrative division of the Maldives. It was created on March 1, 1984 combining northern section of Ari Atoll, the small Rasdhukuramathi Atoll, and the isolated island of Thoddoo. Many of the islands in this atoll have been inhabited since ancient times and have arqueological remains from the Maldivian Buddhist period.

Pre-Islamic Buddhist Stupa of Maldives, excavated in Thoddoo in the 1950s

An isolated spit in the middle of the Rasdhukuramathi Atoll

Rasdhu Atoll is also known as Ross Atoll in the Admiralty charts.

The separation of Ari Atoll (formerly Alifu Atoll) into a Northern and a Southern section has formed the two most recent administrative divisions of the Maldives, namely Alifu Alifu Atoll and Alifu Dhaalu Atoll.

The island of Maalhos is geographically the westernmost island of the Atoll (and the second most westerly inhabited island of the Maldives after Maamakunudhoo). Vajrayana Buddhist remains have been found on this island.

NOTE: Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Kaafu, etc. (including Alif Alif) 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).^[1]

References

1. ^ Tim Godfrey, Atlas of the Maldives, Atoll Editions 2004

• Divehi Tārīkhah Au Alikameh. Divehi Bahāi Tārikhah Khidmaiykurā Qaumī Markazu. Reprint 1958 edn. Malé 1990.
• Divehiraajjege Jōgrafīge Vanavaru. Muhammadu Ibrahim Lutfee. G.Sōsanī.
• Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Barcelona 1999.

Coordinates: 3°52′N 72°49′E / 3.867°N 72.817°E / 3.867; 72.817