Minicoy Island
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Minicoy Island is the largest and the southern-most island of the Laccadive Archipelago north of the Maldives. The locals call the island Maliku, as do the Maldivians. The nearest island is Thurakunu in the Republic of Maldives. The island is administrated by India under the Indian Union Territory of Laccadives.
Minicoy has a culture very different from that of any other island in the Union Territory. Dress, language, and food are similar to the non-Indian Maldive islands to the south of Minicoy. Mahl is the language spoken on the island and is a dialect of Dhivehi language spoken in the Maldives. The language employs the unique Thaana scrip, written from right to left. The social structure is anthropologicaly interesting, being a matrilineal Muslim society.
According to oral history, two Maldivian princesses, Kamboaranin and Kohoratukamana, arrived on the islands. With the arrival of Maldivian royalty the Tivaru who had been living on the islands fled to Sri Lanka. In early written records, the territory of the Island Kingdom of the Maldives has been described as from the Minicoy in the north to Addu in the south. But it is unclear when Minicoy came to be grouped with the Laccadive Islands.
Until the 16th century, the Laccadives appear to have been under the suzerainty of the Kolthari Raja of Chirakkal in what is now the Indian state of Kerala, until it was surrendered to the British East India Company by Ali Raja of Cannanore on December 18, 1790. However, the Rajas continued to administer Minicoy after payinga tribute to the East India Company, until the Governor General of the Presidency of Madras abolished the coir monopoly run by the Rajas from Minicoy. In 1857, suzerainty over Minicoy was transferred from the East India Company to the Indian Empire when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress. Finally in 1905 Ali Raja surrendered sovereignty and control over Minicoy to the Empire, and Minicoy was officially signed over to the Emperor Edward VII by Ali Raja's successor.
In August 1947, Minicoy was passed to India as the Empire withdrew its control. On November 1, 1956, India formally annexed Minicoy and incorporated it into the Union Territory of Minicoy and Laccadive Islands, renamed Lakshadweep in 1973.
Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al-Azam, the Maldivian hero and later king, used Minicoy island as a base while trying to gain the independence of the Maldives from the Portuguese invaders.