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Addu
atoll is located
478 kilometers south of the capital
Malé’
the atoll comprises seven inhabited and about twenty
uninhabited islands. It is an atoll of scholars,
hafizs, seafarers, traders and fisher-folk, and the
only other region accept Male’ to have road traffic.
The
Adduan people’s spirit of independence is reflected
in the different dialect of the Dhivehi Language
they speak to each other. Their history is also
marked by the civil protests against Male’ in 1959.
The
short-lived southern cessation (United Suvadiva
Islands) under the leadership of Abdulla Afif Didi
was quashed when Male’ sent in an armed force to the
neighboring Huvadhoo Atoll, a collaborator in the
southern uprising.
Early in 1960, Britain agreed to a down payment of
£100,000 followed by £150,000 per annum for five
years, and offered to attempt to bring about some
reconciliation between the rival Maldivian factions.
But the reconciliation failed because the Maldivian
Government at the time would not provide safe
conduct for a delegation from the rebel islands.
In the end, despite being guaranteed freedom from
prosecution, Abdulla Afif Didi left Addu for the
Seychelles with his family in October 1963. He made
a short return visit to Addu in 1989, after
suffering a stroke.
The British airbase on Gan during WWII and later
from 1956 to 1976 left behind a concrete runway, an
industrial estate, a holiday village and a
comparatively large group of people educated in
English up to various levels.
When the tourist industry took off around Male’ in
the 1970s, many of the Kids and men moved to the
capital for schooling, medical care and for work.
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