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LACCADIVE ISLANDS

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 37 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LACCADIVE ISLANDS , a See also:

group of See also:coral reefs and islands in the See also:Indian Ocean, lying between 10° and 12° 20' N. and 71° 40' and 740 E. The name Laccadives (laksha dwipa, the " See also:hundred thousand isles ") is that given by the See also:people of the See also:Malabar See also:coast, and was probably meant to include the Maldives; they are called by the natives simply See also:Dial, " islands," or Amendivi, from the See also:chief See also:island. There are seventeen See also:separate reefs, " See also:round each of which the too-See also:fathom See also:line is continuous " (J. S. See also:Gardiner). There are, however, only thirteen islands, and of these only eight are inhabited. They fall into two See also:groups —the See also:northern, belonging to the collectorate of See also:South See also:Kanara, and including the inhabited islands of Amini, Kardamat, Kiltan and Chetlat; and the See also:southern, belonging to the administrative See also:district of Malabar, and including the inhabited islands of Agatti, Kavaratti, Androth and Kalpeni. Between the Laccadives and the Maldives to the south lies the isolated Minikoi, which physically belongs to neither group, though somewhat nearer to the Maldives (q.v.). The See also:principal submerged See also:banks See also:lie See also:north of the northern group of islands; they are Munyal, Coradive and See also:Sesostris, and are of greater extent than those on which the islands lie. The See also:general See also:depth over these is from 23 to 28 fathoms, but Sesostris has shallower soundings " indicating patches growing up, and some traces of a rim " (J. S. Gardiner).

The islands have in nearly all cases emerged from the eastern and protected See also:

side of the See also:reef, the western being completely exposed to the S.W. See also:monsoon. The islands are small, none exceeding a mile in breadth, while the See also:total See also:area is only about 8o sq. m. They lie so See also:low that they would be hardly discernible but for the coco-See also:nut groves with which they are thickly covered. The See also:soil is See also:light coral See also:sand, beneath which, a few feet down, lies a stratum of coral stretching over the whole of the islands. This coral, generally a See also:foot to a foot and a See also:half in thickness, has been in the principal islands wholly excavated, whereby the underlying See also:damp sand is rendered available for cereals. These excavations—a See also:work of vast labour—were made at a remote See also:period, and according to the native tradition by giants. In these spaces (totam, " See also:garden ") coarse See also:grain, See also:pulse, bananas and vegetables are cultivated; coco-nuts grow abundantly everywhere. For See also:rice the natives depend upon the mainland. See also:Population and See also:Trade.—The population in 1901 was 10,274. The people are Moplas, i.e. of mixed See also:Hindu and Arab descent, and are Mahommedans. Their See also:manners and customs are similar to those of the coast Moplas; but they maintain their own See also:ancient See also:caste distinctions. The See also:language spoken is Malayalim, but it is written in the Arabic See also:character.

See also:

Reading and See also:writing are See also:common accomplishments among the men. The chief See also:industry is the manufacture of See also:coir. The various processes are entrusted to the See also:women. The men employ themselves with boatbuilding and in conveying the island produce to the coast. The exports from the Laccadives are of the See also:annual value of about 17,000. See also:History.—No data exist for determining at what period the Laccadives were first colonized. The earliest mention of them as distinguished from the Maldives seems to be by Albfriini (c. io3o), who divides the whole See also:archipelago (Dfbajat) into the Divah Kuzah or Cowrie Islands (the Maldives), and the Divah Kanbar or Coir Islands (the Laccadives). (See Journ. See also:Asia'. See also:Soc., See also:September 1844, p. 265). The islanders were converted to See also:Islam by an Arab apostle named Mumba Mulyaka, whose See also:grave at Androth still imparts a See also:peculiar sanctity to that island.

The kazee of Androth was in 1847 still a member of his See also:

family, and was said to be the twenty-second who had held the See also:office in See also:direct line from the See also:saint. This gives See also:colour to the tradition that the See also:conversion took See also:place about 1250. It is also further corroborated by the See also:story given by the See also:Ibn Batuta of the conversion of the Maldives, which occurred, as he heard, four generations (say one hundred and twenty years) before his visit to these islands in 1342. The Portuguese discovered the Laccadives in May 1498, and built forts upon them, but about 1545 the natives See also:rose upon their oppressors. The islands subsequently became a See also:suzerainty of the See also:raja of See also:Cannanore, and after the See also:peace of See also:Seringapatam, 1792 the southern group was permitted to remain under the management of the native chief at a yearly See also:tribute. This was often in arrear, and on this See also:account these islands were sequestrated by the See also:British See also:government in 1877. See The See also:Fauna and See also:Geography of the Maldive and Laccadive Archipelagoes, ed. J. See also:Stanley Gardiner (See also:Cambridge 1901–1905); Malabar District Gazetteer (See also:Madras, 1908) ; G. Pereira, " As Ilhas de Dyve " (Boletim da Soc. Geog., See also:Lisbon, 1898–1899) gives details See also:relating to the Laccadives from the 16th-See also:century MS. See also:volume De insulis et peregrinatione lusitanorum in the See also:National Library, Lisbon.

End of Article: LACCADIVE ISLANDS

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LACAITA, SIR JAMES [Giacomo] (1813-1895) 		[next]
LACCOLITE (Gr. XhKKOS, cistern, XLOos, stone)

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