Maldives

Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an archipelagic country in South Asia, located in the eastern Arabian Sea, within the northern Indian Ocean. Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about from the Asian continent's mainland. Maldives' chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south.

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governing body of India from September 1946 to August 1947