A small coral island at the southern edge of the North Male atoll where the king has his palace, a mosque and a harbour.
It is the one town of the archipelago and the place where cowries and coir are bought, stored and shipped. The king's governors from the atolls report here; the monks of Laamu were brought here when the monasteries were put down.
Who holds it
- Name
- The king of the Maldives (the Theemuge ruler of 1200: not pinned)
- Title
- see the lord or tenant line below
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- medium
Lord in 1200
The king of the Maldives (the Theemuge ruler of 1200: not pinned)
How things stand that morning
The seat of a Muslim king on a once-Buddhist island; the Laamu suppression of the 1190s is the recent event.
Wealth
Cowrie and coir monopoly, harbour dues.
Threats
- A raid from the Indian coast
- Religious faction
Council
The king's household and officers; none named
Communities
Islanders, Muslim converts, Arab and Indian merchants calling at the harbour
Walls and castle
A palace and the first mosque on the island (the present Friday mosque is of 1656 and is not carried back)
Trade and crafts
Cowries and coir for export, fish, the harbour trade with Malabar, Ceylon, Bengal and the Gulf
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board has no Maldive places; this record is from the assignment. The gazetteer's Male is at 4.1748,73.5089.
Evidence: The island's role is clear; nothing is dated for the town in 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
Primary sources for Maldives
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Book of Roger (the Pleasure of Him who Longs to Cross the Horizons), Muhammad al-Idrisi (completed 1154 at Palermo). The nearest Arabic geography in time to 1200 for the Indian Ocean. Read online
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.