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Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al-Azam also known as Al-Sultan Ghazi Muhammad Bodu Thakurufaanu ruled over the Maldive Islands (Dhivehhi Rajje) from 1573 to 1585 AD. He is one of the most celebrated Maldivian heroes who saved Maldives from the Portuguese conquerors who ruled over the Maldives from 1558-1573 after killing Sultan Ali VI.

Theravada Buddhism originating from Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) became the dominant religion of the people of Maldives. Some scholars believe that the name "Maldives" derives from the Sanskrit maladvipa, meaning "garland of islands."

The Maldivians assigned Muhammad Thakurufaanu as their Sultan. The chronicles report him to have ruled wisely, being just and considerate, protecting the poor, and even solicitous for the people’s interests. He was the first Maldivian king to form the Ashkaru (a unified military body). Muhammed Thakurufaanu died a natural death on th 26th of August 1585.

On July 26, 1965, Maldives gained independence under an agreement signed with Britain. The British government retained the use of the Gan and Hitaddu facilities. In a national referendum in March 1968, Maldivians abolished the sultanate and established a republic.

Caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a tsunami in the Indian Ocean saw parts of Maldives be covered by sea water and many people homeless. After the disaster, cartographers are planning to redraw the maps of the islands due to alterations by the tsunami. The people and government are worried that Maldives would be wiped out from the map eventually.

During the British era from 1887 to 1965, Maldives continued to be ruled under a succession of sultans. The sultans were hereditary until 1932 when an attempt was made to make the sultanate elective, thereby limiting the absolute powers of sultans. At that time, a constitution was introduced for the first time, although the sultanate was retained for an additional twenty-one years.

In 1973 Ibrahim Nasir was elected to a second term under the constitution as amended in 1972, which extended the presidential term to five years and which also provided for the election of the prime minister by the Majlis. In March 1975, newly elected prime minister Ahmed Zaki was arrested in a bloodless coup and was banished to a remote atoll. Observers suggested that Zaki was becoming too popular and hence posed a threat to the Nasir faction.

In 1960 Maldives allowed Britain to continue to use both the Gan and the Hitaddu facilities for a thirty-year period, with the payment of £750,000 over the period of 1960 to 1965 for the purpose of Maldives' economic development.

Elected to replace Ibrahim Nasir for a five-year presidential term in 1978 was Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, a former university lecturer and Maldivian ambassador to the United Nations (UN). The peaceful election was seen as ushering in a period of political stability and economic development in view of Gayoom's priority to develop the poorer islands.

Muhammad Thakurufaanu was the son of Khatheeb (island chief) Husain of Utheemu in Thaladhummathi Atoll and Lady Amina Dio. After the invasion, the Portuguese ruled most cruelly over the Maldive islands in a period which the chronicles describe as ‘‘a time when intolerable enormities were committed by the invading infidels, a time when the sea grew red with Maldivian blood, a time when people were sunk in despair…’’

The Republic of Maldives is a country consisting territorially of a group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India