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Whereas the 1980 and 1983 coup attempts against Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's presidency were not considered serious, the third coup attempt in November 1988 alarmed the international community. About eighty armed Tamil mercenaries landed on Malé before dawn aboard speedboats from a freighter. Disguised as visitors, a similar number had already infiltrated Malé earlier.

The Maldives hold the record for being the flattest country in the world, with a maximum altitude of only 2.3 metres. Although there have been reports of rising sea levels threatening the islands, the sea level has actually lowered in recent decades.

When the tsunami hit, two-thirds of the capital city Malé was flooded during the early hours of the day. Outlying low-level atolls were badly affected and some low lying islands, including some of the major resorts, were completely submerged during the high tide.

Heyerdahl's research indicates that as early as 2,000 B.C. Maldives lay on the maritime trading routes of early Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Indus Valley civilizations. Heyerdahl believes that early sun-worshipping seafarers, called the Redin, first settled on the islands.

In 1957 the new prime minister, Ibrahim Nasir, called for a review of the agreement in the interest of shortening the lease and increasing the annual payment. But Nasir, who was theoretically responsible to then sultan Muhammad Farid Didi, was challenged in 1959 by a local secessionist movement in the southern atolls that benefited economically from the British presence on Gan. This group cut ties with the Maldives government and formed an independent state with Abdulla Afif Didi as president.

The Maldives has 26 Natural atolls which have been divided into 20 administrative atolls. The northern most atoll is Thiladhunmathi and the southern most is Addu. The smallest atoll is Fua Mulaku with only one island (the largest island in the Maldives). The largest atoll in both the Maldives and the whole world is Huvadhu which is just south of the one and a half degree channel.