The Administrative Divisions of the Maldives refers to the various units of government that provide local government services in the Maldives. According to the Decentralization Act 2010, the administrative divisions of the Maldives would consist of atolls, islands, and cities; each administered by their own local council, under the basic terms of home rule. Geographically, the Maldives are formed by a number of natural atolls plus a few islands and isolated reefs which form a pattern from North to South. Administratively, there are currently 189 islands, 19 atolls and 2 cities in the Maldives.
During the regime of Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, the administrative divisions consisted of 20 administrative atolls, all controlled by the central government in Male'. Each atoll was headed by an atoll chief, but they were heavily criticized by locals for being heavily under the influence of the central government and acting rather as spokespersons than chiefs.
Maldives (/ˈmɒldiːvz/, /ˈmɔːldiːvz/, i/ˈmɔːldaɪvz/ or /ˈmældaɪvz/), officially the Republic of Maldives (Dhivehi Raa'jeyge Jumhooriyya), is an island country and archipelago in the Indian Ocean. It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka in the Laccadive Sea. The chain of twenty six atolls stretches from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll to the Addu Atoll. The capital and largest city is Malé, traditionally called the "King's Island."
Historically linked with the Indian subcontinent, Maldives is a Muslim-majority country. From the mid-sixteenth century colonial powers dominated the islands: Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain. The islands gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, becoming a republic in 1968. The country is ruled by a president and its government is authoritarian. The Maldivian economy is dominated by tourism and fishing. The World Bank classifies the country as having an upper middle income economy.
Encompassing a territory spread over roughly 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 sq mi), Maldives is one of the world's most geographically dispersed countries. It is the smallest Asian country in both land area and in population. The archipelago is located atop the Chagos-Maldives-Laccadive Ridge, a vast submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean, which also forms a terrestrial ecoregion, together with the Chagos and the Lakshadweep. With an average ground-level elevation of 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) above sea level, it is the planet's lowest country. It is also the country with the lowest natural highest point in the world, at 2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in). The government has pledged to make Maldives a carbon-neutral country by 2019 amid concerns about rising sea-levels.
The Maldives are an alt-country band from Seattle, Washington known for sold-out live performances described by KEXP-FM as "transcendent". They have released three full-length albums and one EP. Their 2009 album Listen To The Thunder was rated the second best "Northwest Album" of 2009 by Sound on the Sound. Seattle radio station 90.3 KEXP described their most recent album, Muscle for the Wing, as having "a grittier, more guitar-oriented roots-rock sound." The Maldives regularly play in Seattle and throughout the West Coast and have performed at the Sasquatch!, Bumbershoot, South by Southwest, Capitol Hill Block Party, Treefort, and Doe Bay music festivals.
The Maldives provided live orchestration for the 1925 silent movie Riders of the Purple Sage as part of the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival and again for the 2013 festival, scoring the silent film "The Wind". They are based in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and were filmed playing there as part of MTV's online series, $5 Cover: Seattle.
An administrative division, administrative unit, administrative entity or country subdivision (or, sometimes, geopolitical division or subnational entity) is a portion of a country or other region delineated for the purpose of administration. Administrative divisions are each granted a certain degree of autonomy and are usually required to manage themselves through their own local governments. Countries are divided up into these smaller units to make managing their land and the affairs of their people easier. For example, a country may be divided into provinces, which, in turn, are divided into counties, which, in turn, may be divided in whole or in part into municipalities; and so on.
Administrative divisions are conceptually separate from dependent territories, with the former being an integral part of the state and the other being only under some lesser form of control. However, the term "administrative division" can include dependent territories as well as accepted administrative divisions (for example, in geographical databases).
Monaco (i/ˈmɒnəkoʊ/; French: [monako]), officially the Principality of Monaco (French: Principauté de Monaco), is a sovereign city-state and microstate, located on the French Riviera in Western Europe. France borders the country on three sides while the other side borders the Mediterranean Sea. Monaco has an area of 2.02 km2 (0.78 sq mi) and a population of about 37,800; it is the second smallest and the most densely populated country in the world. Monaco has a land border of 4.4 km (2.7 mi), a coastline of 4.1 km (2.5 mi), and a width that varies between 1,700 and 349 m (1,859 and 382 yd). The highest point in the country is a narrow pathway named Chemin des Révoires on the slopes of Mont Agel, in the Les Révoires Ward, which is 161 metres (528 feet) above sea level. Monaco's most populous Quartier is Monte Carlo and the most populous Ward is Larvotto/Bas Moulins. Through land reclamation, Monaco's land mass has expanded by twenty percent. Although small, Monaco is very old and quite well known, especially because of its status as a playground for the rich and famous, who are a spectacle for tourists and an economic engine in the Mediterranean. In 2014 it was noted about 30% of the population was made up of millionaires, similar to Zürich or Geneva.