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In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
Foot binding (pinyin: chanzu, literally 'bound feet') was a custom practiced on young girls and women for approximately one thousand years in China, beginning in the 10th century and ending in the first half of 20th century. There is little evidence for the custom prior to the court of the Southern Tang dynasty in Nanjing, which celebrated the fame of its dancing girls, renowned for their tiny feet and beautiful bow shoes.<br/><br/> What is clear is that foot binding was first practised among the elite and only in the wealthiest parts of China, which suggests that binding the feet of well-born girls represented their freedom from manual labor and, at the same time, the ability of their husbands to afford wives who did not need to work, who existed solely to serve their men and direct household servants while performing no labor themselves. Bound feet were considered intensely erotic in traditional Chinese culture. Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet.<br/><br/> Some men preferred never to see a woman's bound feet, so they were always concealed within tiny 'lotus shoes' and wrappings. Feng Xun is recorded as stating, 'If you remove the shoes and bindings, the aesthetic feeling will be destroyed forever' - an indication that men understood that the symbolic erotic fantasy of bound feet did not correspond to its unpleasant physical reality, which was therefore to be kept hidden. For men, the primary erotic effect was a function of the lotus gait, the tiny steps and swaying walk of a woman whose feet had been bound.
Indigenous epigraphic records dating from the late 12th century CE indicate that, in 1153, the Maldives were converted to Islam by a wandering Arab mendicant. Certainly today the islands are one hundred percent Muslim, and eight centuries of tropical monsoon and Islamic iconoclasm have left little trace of the pre-Islamic religion and culture of the islanders.
Wat Chakkrawat is famous for its live crocodiles and also a small grotto containing what is called a Buddha shadow. Visitors press gold leaf on the shadow shape.
Wat Chakkrawat is famous for its live crocodiles and also a small grotto containing what is called a Buddha shadow. Visitors press gold leaf on the shadow shape.
The Chapel of St Michael with its attached cemetery was built in 1875.<br/><br/>Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver.<br/><br/>Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is now best known for casinos and gambling.
The Chapel of St Michael with its attached cemetery was built in 1875.<br/><br/>Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver.<br/><br/>Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is now best known for casinos and gambling.
The Chapel of St Michael with its attached cemetery was built in 1875.<br/><br/>Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver.<br/><br/>Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is now best known for casinos and gambling.
The Chapel of St Michael with its attached cemetery was built in 1875.<br/><br/>Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver.<br/><br/>Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is now best known for casinos and gambling.
The Chapel of St Michael with its attached cemetery was built in 1875.<br/><br/>Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver.<br/><br/>Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is now best known for casinos and gambling.
The Chapel of St Michael with its attached cemetery was built in 1875.<br/><br/>Macau was both the first and last European colony in China. In 1535, Portuguese traders obtained rights to anchor ships in Macau's harbours and to trade, though not the right to stay onshore. Around 1552–53, they obtained permission to erect temporary storage sheds on the island and built small houses. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, paying an annual rent of 500 taels of silver.<br/><br/>Macau soon became the major trafficking point for Chinese slaves, and many Chinese boys were captured in China, and sold in Lisbon or Brazil. Portugal administered the region until its handover to China on 20 December 1999. It is now best known for casinos and gambling.
Sengaku-ji (泉岳寺) is a SÅtÅ Zen Buddhist temple located in the Takanawa neighborhood of Minato-ku, near Shinagawa Station, Tokyo, Japan. The graves of Asano Takumi no Kami Naganori and the Forty-seven Ronin are located there.<br/><br/> The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin (å››å七士 Shi-jÅ«-shichi-shi), also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the AkÅ vendetta, or the Genroku AkÅ incident (元禄赤穂事件 Genroku akÅ jiken) took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century. One noted Japanese scholar described the tale as the country's 'national legend'. It recounts the most famous case involving the samurai code of honor, bushidÅ.<br/><br/> The story tells of a group of samurai who were left leaderless (becoming ronin) after their daimyo (feudal lord) Asano Naganori was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official named Kira Yoshinaka, whose title was KÅzuke no suke. The ronin avenged their master's honor after patiently waiting and planning for two years to kill Kira.<br/><br/> In turn, the ronin were themselves ordered to commit seppuku for committing the crime of murder. With much embellishment, this true story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, persistence, and honor that all good people should preserve in their daily lives. The popularity of the almost mythical tale was only enhanced by rapid modernization during the Meiji era of Japanese history, when it is suggested many people in Japan longed for a return to their cultural roots.<br/><br/> Fictionalized accounts of these events are known as ChÅ«shingura. The story was popularized in numerous plays including bunraku and kabuki. Because of the censorship laws of the shogunate in the Genroku era, which forbade portrayal of current events, the names of the ronin were changed.
Quanzhou was established in 718 during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). In those days, Guangzhou was China's greatest seaport, but this status would be surpassed later by Quanzhou. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), Quanzhou was one of the world's largest seaports, hosting a large community of foreign-born inhabitants from across the Eurasian world.<br/><br/> Due to its reputation, Quanzhou has been called the starting point of the Silk Road via the sea. From the Arabic name form of the city, Zayton, the word satin would be minted. In The Travels of Marco Polo, Quanzhou (called Zayton, T'swan-Chau or Chin-Cheu) was listed as the departure point for Marco Polo's expedition to escort the 17-year-old Mongol princess bride Kököchin to her new husband in the Persian Ilkhanate.
Quanzhou was established in 718 during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). In those days, Guangzhou was China's greatest seaport, but this status would be surpassed later by Quanzhou. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), Quanzhou was one of the world's largest seaports, hosting a large community of foreign-born inhabitants from across the Eurasian world.<br/><br/> Due to its reputation, Quanzhou has been called the starting point of the Silk Road via the sea. From the Arabic name form of the city, Zayton, the word satin would be minted. In The Travels of Marco Polo, Quanzhou (called Zayton, T'swan-Chau or Chin-Cheu) was listed as the departure point for Marco Polo's expedition to escort the 17-year-old Mongol princess bride Kököchin to her new husband in the Persian Ilkhanate.
Quanzhou was established in 718 during the Tang Dynasty (618–907). In those days, Guangzhou was China's greatest seaport, but this status would be surpassed later by Quanzhou. During the Song Dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368), Quanzhou was one of the world's largest seaports, hosting a large community of foreign-born inhabitants from across the Eurasian world.<br/><br/> Due to its reputation, Quanzhou has been called the starting point of the Silk Road via the sea. From the Arabic name form of the city, Zayton, the word satin would be minted. In The Travels of Marco Polo, Quanzhou (called Zayton, T'swan-Chau or Chin-Cheu) was listed as the departure point for Marco Polo's expedition to escort the 17-year-old Mongol princess bride Kököchin to her new husband in the Persian Ilkhanate.
Established in 1786, the Old Pretestant Cemetery (also known as Northam Road Cemetery), is a disused Christian cemetery in George Town, Penang, Malaysia.<br/><br/> The cemetery is of significant historic interest: it is older than many better-known burial grounds such as Père Lachaise in Paris, PowÄ…zki in Warsaw, the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and Highgate Cemetery in London. It is also 35 years older than the Old Protestant Cemetery in Macau. In 2012, conservation works were undertaken to protect and preserve the site, although there was some concern about how the restoration was done.
The Qingjing Mosque, also known as the Ashab Mosque, was initially built in 1009 during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It was based on a mosque in Damascus, Syria and is the oldest Arab-style mosque in China. The mosque, built and repaired by Arab Muslims, reflects the longstanding cultural exchange between China and the Arabic countries.<br/><br/> A thousand years ago Quanzhou was arguably the world’s most significant port, with a lucrative position at the centre of the maritime silk trade.<br/><br/> It prospered enormously during the Song and Yuan dynasties, when it was visited by Marco Polo (the port was known as Zaytoun then) and played host to thousands of Arab merchants, many of whom made fortunes introducing Chinese inventions such as gunpowder and printing to the West.<br/><br/> The port fell into irreversible decline following the restrictions on maritime trade imposed by the Ming emperors in the 15th century.
Mahmud al-Kashgari was a renowned 11th century linguist, poet and historian who compiled the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages.<br/><br/> Upal is on the Karakoram Highway, which follows the old Silk Road route from China to Pakistan. Its name comes from the Sanskrit: upál-, which means 'a noble stone', sharing an Indo-European root to the Greek <i>opallios<i/> (á½€πάλλιος), from which the English word opal is derived.
Mahmud al-Kashgari was a renowned 11th century linguist, poet and historian who compiled the first comprehensive dictionary of Turkic languages.<br/><br/> Upal is on the Karakoram Highway, which follows the old Silk Road route from China to Pakistan. Its name comes from the Sanskrit: upál-, which means 'a noble stone', sharing an Indo-European root to the Greek <i>opallios<i/> (á½€πάλλιος), from which the English word opal is derived.
Galle was for centuries Sri Lanka’s main port, a position which strengthened during the periods of Portuguese and Dutch colonial rule. Galle only lost its primacy in the late 19th century, when the British expanded and developed the harbour at Colombo to become the island’s major port.<br/><br/>Perhaps the earliest recorded reference to Galle comes from the great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited the port—which he calls Qali—in the mid-14th century.<br/><br/>The Portuguese first arrived in 1505, when a fleet commanded by Lorenzo de Almeida took shelter from a storm in the lee of the town. Clearly the strategic significance of the harbour impressed the Portuguese, for 82 years later, in 1587, they seized control of the town from the Sinhala kings and began the construction of Galle Fort. This event marked the beginning of almost four centuries of European domination of the city, resulting in the fascinating hybrid—architecturally, culturally and ethnically—which Galle is today.<br/><br/>The Dutch captured the city from the Portuguese in 1640, and immediately began strengthening the fortifications. They remained for almost 150 years, until the city was in turn taken by the British in 1796.<br/><br/>Not until 1947, when Ceylon gained its independence from the British, did Galle become, once again, an independent city—and by this time the long years of association with European colonialism had left an indelible stamp on the city which makes it unique in today’s Sri Lanka.
Galle was for centuries Sri Lanka’s main port, a position which strengthened during the periods of Portuguese and Dutch colonial rule. Galle only lost its primacy in the late 19th century, when the British expanded and developed the harbour at Colombo to become the island’s major port.<br/><br/>Perhaps the earliest recorded reference to Galle comes from the great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited the port—which he calls Qali—in the mid-14th century.<br/><br/>The Portuguese first arrived in 1505, when a fleet commanded by Lorenzo de Almeida took shelter from a storm in the lee of the town. Clearly the strategic significance of the harbour impressed the Portuguese, for 82 years later, in 1587, they seized control of the town from the Sinhala kings and began the construction of Galle Fort. This event marked the beginning of almost four centuries of European domination of the city, resulting in the fascinating hybrid—architecturally, culturally and ethnically—which Galle is today.<br/><br/>The Dutch captured the city from the Portuguese in 1640, and immediately began strengthening the fortifications. They remained for almost 150 years, until the city was in turn taken by the British in 1796.<br/><br/>Not until 1947, when Ceylon gained its independence from the British, did Galle become, once again, an independent city—and by this time the long years of association with European colonialism had left an indelible stamp on the city which makes it unique in today’s Sri Lanka.
Galle was for centuries Sri Lanka’s main port, a position which strengthened during the periods of Portuguese and Dutch colonial rule. Galle only lost its primacy in the late 19th century, when the British expanded and developed the harbour at Colombo to become the island’s major port.<br/><br/>Perhaps the earliest recorded reference to Galle comes from the great Arab traveller Ibn Battuta, who visited the port—which he calls Qali—in the mid-14th century.<br/><br/>The Portuguese first arrived in 1505, when a fleet commanded by Lorenzo de Almeida took shelter from a storm in the lee of the town. Clearly the strategic significance of the harbour impressed the Portuguese, for 82 years later, in 1587, they seized control of the town from the Sinhala kings and began the construction of Galle Fort. This event marked the beginning of almost four centuries of European domination of the city, resulting in the fascinating hybrid—architecturally, culturally and ethnically—which Galle is today.<br/><br/>The Dutch captured the city from the Portuguese in 1640, and immediately began strengthening the fortifications. They remained for almost 150 years, until the city was in turn taken by the British in 1796.<br/><br/>Not until 1947, when Ceylon gained its independence from the British, did Galle become, once again, an independent city—and by this time the long years of association with European colonialism had left an indelible stamp on the city which makes it unique in today’s Sri Lanka.
The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
The Hukuru Miskiiy (Friday Mosque) is the most important mosque in the Maldives. Originially constructed c.1153 at the time of the conversion to Islam on the orders of Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, it was restored in 1338, and subsequently renewed and enlarged in 1656-7 by Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I (1648-87).<br/><br/> The building is of finely-carved hiri-ga coral, and bears some mouldings of distinctly Buddhist artistic inspiration on the basement. The portico was erected by Ibrahim Iskandar I on his return from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 1668. The distinctive, lighthouse-shaped munnaru (minaret) was erected by the same sultan in 1674-5.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
In the Maldives, being a Muslim country, people are buried. Tombstones with a single point on the top are those of men, while those with a rounded top are those of women.<br/><br/> Asia's smallest and least-known nation, the Republic of Maldives, lies scattered from north to south across a 750-kilometre sweep of the Indian Ocean 500 kilometres south-west of Sri Lanka. More than 1000 islands, together with innumerable banks and reefs, are grouped in a chain of nineteen atolls which extends from a point due west of Colombo to just south of the equator.<br/><br/> The atolls, formed of great rings of coral based on the submarine Laccadive-Chagos ridge, vary greatly in size. Some are only a few kilometres square, but in the far south the great atoll of Suvadiva is sixty-five kilometres across, and has a central lagoon of more than 2000 square kilometres. The northern and central atolls are separated from each other by comparatively narrow channels of deep water, but in the south Suvadiva is cut off by the eighty-kilometre-wide One-and-a-half-Degree Channel. Addu Atoll is still more isolated, being separated from the atoll of Suvadiva by the seventy-kilometre-wide Equatorial Channel.
The Spratly Islands are a group of more than 750 reefs, iislets, atolls, cays and islands in the South China Sea. The archipelago lies off the coasts of the Philippines and Malaysia (Sabah), about one third of the way to southern Vietnam. They comprise less than four square kilometers of land area spread over more than 425,000 square kilometers of sea. The Spratlys are one of three archipelagos of the South China Sea which comprise more than 30,000 islands and reefs and which complicate governance and economics in that region of Southeast Asia.<br/><br/> Such small and remote islands have little economic value in themselves, but are important in establishing international boundaries. There are no native islanders but there are rich fishing grounds and initial surveys indicate the islands may contain significant reserves of oil and natural gas.<br/><br/> About 45 islands are occupied by relatively small numbers of military forces from Vietnam, the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia and the Philippines. Brunei has also claimed an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the southeastern part of the Spratlys encompassing just one area of small islands above mean high water (on Louisa Reef.)