GAN Island Post

This is an article publised in Gan Island Post 300th edition by British Royal Force about Maldivian's in 4th Janury 1969.

With my special intrest on the History of RAF Gan, I like to share this articles with all of my readers this time.

Since I have collected lots of information about RAF GAN and its pictures, if anyone have any special intrests on any of the informations in particuler, please let me know. so that I can highlight about it on my next publication.
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The Maldivians

Few people during their relatively short stay at Gan have the opportunity to find out very much about the history, back ground and day today life of the Maldivian islanders.

British connections go back a long time to the year 1887, when British government came to an arrangement with the then Sultan of the Maldives to protect them from outside aggression. The arrangement was renewed from time to time over the years until 26th July 1965, when the Maldives gained the full independence. In the sixteenth century the Portuguese were known to have taken on interest in the northerly islands of the Maldivian archipelago and they were followed later by the Dutch. Bronze cannon, possibly relics of their earlier days, can still be seen lying in the shallow waters of the lagoon at Male, The Maldivian Capital.

The Maldivian archipelago consists of some 2000 low-lying coral islands of which 220 are inhabited. They are grouped on twelve clearly defined atolls of which Addu is the most southerly. Most of the islands are flat low lying and generally no more than few feet’s above sea level. They are composed of broken coral shingled overlaid with coral sand and a top covering of sandy humus soil form decayed vegetation. By our standards the people are poor and undernourished. They have little in the way of natural resources except for what is delivered from fishing and coconut cultivation. Most of the fish is dried and shipped to Ceylon for much needed currency. At the last count it was estimated that the population of the Maldives was somewhat in the region of 100000. On the whole the people are cheerful and friendly. They spend much of their time fishing tending their vegetables plots, coconut-plantation and repairing their nets, boats and houses. The majority of the Maldivians came from the same stock as the Singhalese, but there is strong evidence of the intermingling of other races in their general characteristics.

There are schools in most of the atolls where the children are educated in reading, writing, Arithmetic and religious subjects. However it must have some as a considerable shock to the islanders of Addu Atoll when the RAF first came to Gan 10 years ago. They were uprooted from their homes, re-housed on Fedu and the saw their most fertile island bulldozed flat for construction of the runway.
Nevertheless they quickly adjusted themselves to this sudden impact of Western civilization and have adopted many of our ideas.

Most of the villages are neatly laid out and models of orderly local administration. The Maldivians who came to work at Gan have considerably improved their standard of living and it is certainly not unusual to find their homes equipped with most modern amenities.

The 950 Maldivians who row from their islands everyday to work at Gan play a most important part in the role of FAR Gan. Without their willing and cheerful co-operation we would find this beautiful island a much less pleasant place in which to live.