Manuscripts: Map

MAHS-MDV-COL-001-O-0030

This map was done in the 21st year of the second reign of Sultan Muhammad Shams al-Din III. Work on this map was led by Dhon Thuthu and Bodufulhaggey Ibrahim Maniku, assisted by Hassan Maniku, Dhon Thuthu and Mohamed Maniku. There is a note on the top right that gives the original Hijri date on which the map was completed. There are two other notes that were added later in 1988: one pinned at the top left with converted CE dates, and another at the bottom right with other details.It appears that this map was based upon the 1921 map. The lines on this map are faded, and not as clear as the original that it was based on. Although it appears that some of the main features were traced from the earlier map, the detailed treatment and three-dimensional depictions that the former gives to particular buildings and other features is absent here. This two-dimensional copy of the 1921 map appears to have been done specifically to accommodate a request by H.C.P. Bell for materials to use in his landmark study of the Maldives. This is corroborated by the fact that the north orientation arrow on this map is identical to that on the map published by Bell, while both are different from that on the original 1921 map. There is an original note on top center of this map clarifying the scale written out long-hand in Dhivehi, rather than numerically, stating that ‘this map is drawn to 1:80 inches'. Bell's map likewise notes that his map was based on an original map prepared by the Maldive Government and drawn at the same scale of 1:80 inches. The dimensions of this map are identical to Bell's, and there are a number of very specific details that match up as well, including a note labeling the deep area between two jetties on the central south coast of Malé as ‘Fungandu'. The detailed photography and digital stitching of this map and five others from the collection of the National Museum of the Maldives was done by Aishath Shifa Shafeeg and Hamzah Hassan over a period from 22 March – 28 May, 2021.