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50 free Maldives trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Maldives is a chain of 26 atolls and nearly 1,200 coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean, the smallest country in Asia and the lowest-lying nation on Earth. This quiz starts with the geography most visitors never learn: how much of the country is actually sea, how high its highest natural point is, which island is the biggest, and why the capital Malé is one of the most crowded places on the planet. From there it works through 2,500 years of history: the Buddhist kingdom, the conversion to Islam in the 12th century, Ibn Battuta's stint as a judge, the cowrie shells that made the islands the 'Money Isles', the Portuguese garrison thrown out in 1573, the British protectorate, independence in 1965, the republic of 1968, Operation Cactus in 1988, the 2004 tsunami and the underwater cabinet meeting of 2009. Culture and daily life get their turn too: the Dhivehi language and its right-to-left Thaana script, the dhoni, tuna and mas huni, the green-and-red flag, Bodu Beru drumming and the first resort of 1972. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the Maldives, Malé, the flag and Maldivian cuisine, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Maldives lies in which ocean?
Indian
The chain sits southwest of India and Sri Lanka, about 750 km from the Asian mainland.
Q 02What is the capital and most populated city of the Maldives?
Malé
It was traditionally called the 'King's Island' because the royal dynasties ruled from it.
Q 03How many natural atolls make up the Maldives?
26
They stretch across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu in the north to Addu in the south.
Q 04Roughly how many coral islands does the Maldives consist of?
1,192
They are grouped in a double chain running 871 km north to south.
Q 05The Maldives holds which superlative among the world's countries?
Lowest-lying
Its average ground level is only about 1.5 metres above the sea.
Q 06What is the highest natural point in the Maldives?
2.4 metres
Some sources credit Mount Villingili with a slightly loftier 5.1 metres.
Q 07How much dry land does the Maldives have in total?
298 sq km
That land is spread across some 90,000 square kilometres of sea.
Q 08The Maldives is the smallest country on which continent?
Asia
It is also the continent's second least populous state.
Q 09The IPCC has warned the Maldives could be uninhabitable by which year at current sea-level rise?
2100
More than 80 percent of the land sits less than a metre above the sea.
Q 10What is the largest island in the Maldives?
Gan
It belongs to Laamu Atoll; there is a different Gan in Addu Atoll that hosted an RAF base.
Q 11The name Maldives is thought to derive from Sanskrit words meaning what?
Garland of islands
In Sinhala the islands are Maala Divaina, the 'Necklace Islands'.
Q 12What is the official language of the Maldives?
Dhivehi
It is an Indo-Aryan tongue closely related to Sinhala.
Q 13The modern Maldivian script, Thaana, is written in which direction?
Right to left
It blends the older Dhives Akuru script with the Arabic abjad.
Q 14Which religion dominated the Maldives for roughly 1,400 years before Islam arrived?
Q 21In which year did the Maldives gain independence from the United Kingdom?
1965
The agreement was signed in Colombo on 26 July.
Q 22The republic declared on 11 November 1968 ended a monarchy that had lasted how long?
853 years
Ibrahim Nasir became the first president of the new republic.
Q 23The short-lived breakaway state formed in the southern atolls in 1959 was called what?
United Suvadive Republic
It grew out of the economic benefits of the British base at Gan and was crushed a year later.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom served as president for how many years from 1978?
Buddhism
Nearly all archaeological remains in the country are stupas and monasteries.
Q 15The last Buddhist king of the Maldives, Dhovemi, converted to Islam in which century?
12th
He took the title Sultan Muhammad al-Adil and began six Islamic dynasties that lasted until 1932.
Q 16Which Moroccan traveller served as chief judge in the Maldives and married into its royal family in the 1340s?
Ibn Battuta
He left after his strict rulings, and his objections to women's dress, chafed with the rulers.
Q 17Arab traders called the Maldives the 'Money Isles' because they exported enormous quantities of what?
Cowrie shells
The Bengal-Maldives shell trade was the largest shell-currency network in history.
Q 18Besides shells, the Maldives' other essential medieval export was coir, made from what?
Dried coconut husk
Saltwater-resistant coir rope stitched and rigged dhows across the region.
Q 19Which European power garrisoned the Maldives in 1558, only to be expelled about 15 years on?
Portugal
The revolt led by Muhammad Thakurufaanu is commemorated as National Day.
Q 20The Maldives formally became a British protectorate under an agreement of which year?
1887
The sultan kept home rule while Britain handled defence and foreign affairs.
30
He won six consecutive elections without opposition.
Q 25Which country airlifted troops to crush the 1988 coup attempt in the Maldives, in Operation Cactus?
India
Paratroopers flew over 2,000 km from Agra and restored the government within hours.
Q 26The 1988 mercenaries who attacked Malé belonged to which Sri Lankan group?
PLOTE
About 80 fighters seized the airport before fleeing on a hijacked freighter.
Q 27Who founded the Maldivian Democratic Party in 2003 and won the country's first direct presidential election?
Mohamed Nasheed
He later resigned in 2012 after police and army units mutinied.
Q 28To highlight climate change, where did the Maldives hold a world-first cabinet meeting in 2009?
Underwater
The president also floated buying land in India, Sri Lanka or Australia as insurance.
Q 29The 2004 tsunami damage in the Maldives amounted to roughly what share of GDP?
62%
With no continental shelf, the waves could not build height, and the tallest were about 4.3 metres.
Q 30Who was sworn in as the eighth President of the Maldives in October 2023?
Mohamed Muizzu
He is widely seen as pro-China, cooling relations with India.