Male Coast

Malé lies on a small island at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll, surrounded by the shallow waters and reefs of the Maldives. Long the seat of the islands' rulers, it had an inner harbour for fishing boats and small dhonis, while larger vessels anchored between Villingili and Hulhulé. In 1343 Ibn Battuta described the queen's residence and stores of cowrie shells awaiting trade. Sultan Muhammad Imaduddin fortified the island in the seventeenth century, building walls along its northern, eastern and western sides.