Theemuge

The Theemuge, also called the Homa or Lunar dynasty, was the first house to rule the whole Maldives. Its early king Koimala, enthroned around 1117, reclaimed the northern atolls from Indian invaders. In 1153 the last Buddhist king, Dhovemi, accepted Islam and ruled as Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, after which the line became known as the Theemuge dynasty.

In 1337 Sultan Omar I ruled. His son Ahmed Shihabuddine was deposed and killed in 1347 by his sister Khadijah, the first sultana of the dynasty, whom Ibn Battuta found reigning in Malé in the 1340s. Twice deposed and restored, she ruled for nearly thirty years until 1379.

Her half-sister Raadhafathi succeeded her, but the house was running out of heirs. Around 1388 Hassan I of the Hilaalee family overthrew Sultan Uthman Rasgefaan, ending Theemuge rule and opening the Hilaalee dynasty.