MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Maldives
Index
Few works offering a close look at the contemporary
island
societies of the Indian Ocean have been published in the
English
language. Even fewer works that place those societies in
the
context of their historical and geographic settings are to
be
found. This study, Indian Ocean: Five Island
Countries,
seeks to contribute in a modest way to fulfillment of the
void,
offering a compact and objective exposition of the
dominant
social, political, and economic institutions of the island
countries and a view of their current problems and
tensions.
Analysis and interpretation by the authors must be judged,
however, in the light of the scant nature of available
research
data in many subject areas.
With considerable justification, the reader may
question the
exclusion of Sri Lanka (the island nation formerly known
as
Ceylon, an important political force in the Indian Ocean)
from
other than the more general discussions in this study.
That
country's close proximity to, and long historical
associations
with, the Indian subcontinent and its early tutelage in
self-rule
under the British, beginning nearly two decades before
independence, however, distinguish it quite clearly from
the
island countries in the southwestern Indian Ocean.
Moreover, it
has been treated already in a separate volume in the
series. By
the same token, the reader may question the inclusion of
Maldives, insofar as, like Sri Lanka, it, too, lies close
to the
subcontinent in the northern Indian Ocean. Unlike Sri
Lanka,
however, Maldives appears nowhere else in the Country
Study
series, and in the view of the authors it warranted
treatment
here, especially as it shares some concerns of the island
countries in the southwestern ocean. Reunion, although
also a
Mascarene Island like Mauritius, chose to become an
integral part
of metropolitan France, and thus is not included in this
volume.
Measurements are given in the metric system; a
conversion
table is provided in the Appendix. The spelling of
place-names
generally follows that established by the United States
Board on
Geographic Names (BGN) in its latest available gazetteers
for the
area. Currency conversion factors appear in the Glossary,
which
is included for the reader's convenience. Country Profile
data,
ordinarily appearing in the front matter of books in this
series,
in this study are to be found with the relevant chapters.
The body of the text reflects information available as
of
July 1994. Certain other portions of the text, however,
have been
updated. The Introduction discusses significant events and
trends
that have occurred since the completion of research; the
Country
Profiles include updated information as available; and the
Bibliography lists recently published sources thought to
be
particularly helpful to the reader.
Data as of August 1994
|
|