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Maldivians ( dhivehin, divehin), also called Maldive Islanders, are a nation and ethnic group native to the historic region of the Maldive Islands comprising what is now the Republic of Maldives and the island of Minicoy in Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. All Maldivians share the same culture and speak the Maldivian language which is a member of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages. For ethnographic and linguistic purposes as well as geo-political reasons, anthropologists divide the Maldivian people into 3 subgroups: The main group of Maldivians, numbering more than 250,000. This is the group inhabiting the numerous atolls stretching from Ihavandhippolhu (Haa Alif) to Haddhunmathi (Laamu) in Maldives.

As a result of some political activities which occurred in the South during the early 1960s, the term Suvadivian has been adopted by some authors to refer to the southern group of Maldivians. From 1959 to 1963 there was a short-lived breakaway government named United Suvadive Republic which was formed by the Southerners, from which the name originated though there are no such native names. The names Suvadive and Suvadivian suggest that the origin of the names lye in the ancient name for the three southernmost atolls of Huvadhu, Fuvahmulah and Addu which was Suvadiva.  The Suvadivians, living in the three southernmost atolls of the equatorial zone (Huvadhu, Fuvahmulah and Addu atolls) number approximately 60,000 and constitute about 20% of the total population of Maldivians. According to researchers, this group of Maldivians have the closest proximity to the original Maldivian people in terms of linguistics as well as on ethnic grounds. The reason behind this suggested by researchers and proven from historical records is that there were less interference from the outside world to this group. Unlike the other group of Maldivians, this group was not affected by the Portuguese rule in the Maldives as it does not exceed the Suvadiva channel. Also there were no interference from traders and travellers as much as in the case of the other.  Each of the 3 atolls of the Suvadiva region speak their own distinctive forms of the Maldivian language (Huvadhu bas, Mulaku bas and Addu bas), which are much different from the rest and as suggested by researchers, having a closer affinity to what may have been the original. Thus, the native features of the original Maldivian people are preserved in this group greater than any other group of Maldivians.

Entity:
Maldivians