Minicoy Coast

Minicoy, known locally as Maliku, lies on the southernmost atoll of the Laccadive chain. The Nine Degree Channel separates it from the islands to the north, while the Maldives lie to the south. Islam reached the island around the twelfth century, and Minicoy remained culturally and politically connected to the Maldives until the sixteenth century. Later ruled by the Ali Rajas of Kannur, it came under the East India Company's suzerainty; the ruling family formally acknowledged that position in 1824.