The people of Maliku converted to Islam in 663 AD. They are some of the earliest Muslims of South Asia. As Muslims, they have conservative customs and traditions and yet they are devout and conservative. Minicoy Islanders, like the close islands of the Maldives follow Sunni Islam. They speak the Mahal language, which is very seimilar to the language of the Maldives.It is written right to left like Urdu and has a lot of commonalities with Urdu.

Not many know that nine years after India’s Independence, the Union Jack was found fluttering on a lighthouse at Minicoy in Lakshwadeep. The wizened lighthouse keeper was unaware that India had become independent. When the inadvertent lapse was discovered in April 1956, the British government sent a special officer to lower the Union Jack.”

The island should have been part of Pakistan per the British Independence Act of 1947. In the hurly burly of 1947–this island was literally forgotten by the British, the Indians and the Pakistanis.

ADVENT OF ISLAM

The most significant even in the early history of the territory was the complete religious conversion brought over by the adoption of the entire population to Islamic faith. The current tradition in all the islands say that it was brought about by an Arab Saint named Ubadidullah who reached Amini in Hejira 41 (AD.663). Ubaidullah, the grand son of Siddique-ul-Akbar, had a dream while praying at a mosque in Medina to proceed to Jiddan and from there by ocean to distant lands to spread the message of Islam. He proceeded from Jiddah but his vessel capsized due to a storm. Saint Ubaidullah drifted on a plank and reached Amini. The Saint started preaching there but met with general opposition. He could get a female covert from the Pondambelli family with whom he proceeded to Andrott and converted the inhabitants there.

Then he went to Kavaratti and Agatti and returned once again to Amini in A.H-44 (A.D. 666). He succeed this time in converting entire population to Islam. He then proceeded to Kalpeni converting the inhabitants there and finally returned to Andrott where he remained till the end of his life. He died at Andrott and his grave is enshrined there in a mosque at Andrott with deep veneration. All the Juma Mosques in the islands of Amini, Kalpeni, Agatti and Kavaratti are believed to have been founded by the saint. As the group lies directly in the path of Arab trade between the Red Sea and Malabar, the ultimate conversion of the inhabitants to Islam was a probability and saint Ubaidullah must have been instrumental for such a conversion.

The conversion of the king of Maldives, Siri Bavanditta who assumed the name of Sultan Muhammad took place in the year AD.1153, when Ibn Batuta visited the area in AD.1346, he found that all the inhabitants in Mulook (Minicoy) were devout Muslims. It can be assumed that the people of Minicoy had embraced Islam sometime between 12th and 13th century AD. According to Sir.W.Robinson, the conversion to the new faith in other islands took place sometime in the 16th century.

They are a group of 36 coral islands, 10 inhabited, in the Indian Ocean, 320 km/200 mi off the Malabar coast. The area is 32 sq km/12 sq mi; population (2001 est) 60,600. The administrative headquarters are on Kavaratti Island. Products include coir, copra, and fish. There is a tourist resort on Bangarem, an uninhabited island with a large lagoon. The religion is Islam.

The Arakkal rule was not popular and in 1787, Tipu Sultan acceded to the petitions of the Northern islands to annex these islands. After the fall of Tipu Sultan, the Islands were passed to East India Company, but continued to be ruled de facto by the rulers of Cannanore, till their ultimate annexation by the British in the early 20th century.

The first Western visitor was Vasco da Gama in 1499. The islands were British from 1877 until Indian independence in 1947. Neither India nor Pakistan took over the islands, and they kept flying the British flag ’till 1956when India foricbly took them over. It was then illegally incorporated into Indian Union Territory in 1956–after a sham plebiscite in which the residents did not know what they were voting for. Formerly known as the Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands, they were renamed Lakshadweep in 1973.

Many residents of Mincoy cliam that that they wanted to join Pakistan, not India–and that the 1956 referendum was a sham. They want another plebiscite and do not want to be part of India anymore.

Historically the first reference is from the periplus of the Erythrarean Sea (A.D.90). Describing the trade of the Malabar coast, the author mentions “tortoise shell from the islands off Limurike”, the latter being the name given to Malabar or part of it in ancient times. The other classical reference is found in Ptolemy’s Geography (Circa A.D.150). He refers to a multitude of islands in the Indian Ocean lying around Taprobane (Sri Lanka) and numbering about 1378. He gives a long list of islands, out of which a few belonging to Lakshadweep.

The travelers like Al Biruni in A.D.1030, Abu Zayad in A.D.950 and Marco Polo in A.D.1254-1324 mentioned the islands in the coast of Kerala. Marco Polo gives a fantastic account of their marriage custom, fish trade and collection of ambergris. The people of Minicoy are a sea-faring community and have a closely-knit matrilineal society. In fact, the dominance of women led the famous explorer Marco Polo to dub Minicoy as a ‘female island.’ Minicoy is a picturesque island dotted with palm trees and enclosed with coral reefs. One of the most spectacular sights of Minicoy is a 50 metre tall Lighthouse, built by the British.

Like Goa, the Spanish Inqusision tooks its toll on these Muslims too. During the16^th century the island have to suffered greatly at the hands of the Portuguese. A major part of the inhabitants were put to death and many were taken prisoners. The Portuguese built a fort at Amini.

The Maiku island used to be part of the Maldives. The kings of the Maldives styled themselves as “Kings of Twelve Thousand Islands”. This indicated a huge number rather than a numerical value. In the old Maldive duodecimal system of counting, twelve thousand was a round figure such as a hundred thousand in the decimal system. Clearly, therefore, twelve thousand was the figurative duodecimal equivalent of the decimal a hundred thousand. Even today in Maldive and Maliku speech, terms such as lakka duvas (a hundred thousand days) are used to refer to a huge number- in this case, a huge number of days (or time).

The location map of the Maldives and Minicoy

Still, until relatively recently, the kings and queens of the Maldives issued edicts addressed to the subjects in their realm Malikaddu Midhemedhu. This meant “Between Maliku and Addu”. Previously Addu was the Southern-most island in the dominions of the Maldive kings and was in Addu Atoll. The island was dredged off by the British in 1959 to construct the airfield on neighbouring Gan island. As late as AD 1696, a grant issued under the Seal of the King Siri Kula Ran Mani of the Maldives referred to him as Malikaddu Midhemedhu ekanuonna mi korhu anikaneh nethee korhu which meant “Sole Sovereign with no other over what lies between Maliku and Addu”. The grant was issued in the matter of the building and upkeep of a mosque in the island of Finey in Thiladhummathi Atoll, Maldives.

On December 18, 1790 Maliku was surrendered to the Court of Directors of the English East India Company by the Ali Raja of Cannanore, Junumabe Ali-Adi Raja Bibi II. The Ali Raja was allowed to administer Maliku in return for a tribute to the East India Company. She continued to dispute the transfer of sovereignty but in 1824, her successor, Mariambe Ali-Adi Raja Bibi made a formal written recognition of the suzerainty of the East India Company. She and her successors, however, continued the tributary arrangement.

khadija manika

On 27 July 1795, the Governor General of the Presidency of Madras under whose jurisdiction Maliku was, abolished Junumabe Ali Adi-Raja Bibi’s coir monopoly. This was the beginning of the end of the Ali Raja’s real control over Maliku.

In 1857, suzerainty over Maliku transferred from the East India Company to the Indian Empire when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress.

In 1905 under the heavy burden of debts to the Empire, Mohamed Ali-Adi Raja agreed to surrender sovereignty and control over Maliku. He died before the formal transfer. After an attempt to back track, his successor Imbicchi Ali-Adi Raja Bibi finally signed over Maliku to the Emperor Edward VII on 9 February 1909, back dated to 1 July 1905. Following this, Maliku was annexed to the District of Malabar.

In August 1947 the possessions of the Emperor of India passed to either the Indian Union or Pakistan according to an agreed demarcation line. The rulers of the independent countries that were vassals of the Emperor had the choice of acceding to either India or Pakistan.

Minicoy map Jazira tul Maliku

While Maliku was a sovereign possession of the Emperor and not that of an independent country such as Cannanore, Kashmir or Hyderabad, it is unclear why India felt it necessary to hold a plebiscite in Maliku in 1956 to determine whether or not the people of Maliku wished to join the Indian Union. A referendum was held and an absolute majority of the Malikun decided to join the Indian Union. On 1 November 1956, Maliku was incorporated into the Union Territory of Laccadive, Minicoy, and Amindivi Islands, renamed Lakshadweep in 1973

Minicoy is locally known as Maliku, which is the name of the island in the Maldive-Minicoy language. The name Maliku is thought to have been derived from the Arab trader’s term for the island, Jazirat al-Maliku (‘the island of the king’). Since it was the ancient capital of Lakshadweepa[2]. So how did this transform into Minicoy?

Many Minicoy islanders have long settled in the Nicobar Islands across in the Bay of Bengal. They had always regularly travelled back to Minicoy. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands had a reputation in the Maldives and Minicoy of being inhabited by cannibals, and so collectively the Andaman and Nicobar groups were called “Minikaa-raajje” by Maldive and Minicoy islanders. This meant “cannibal kingdom”. The indigenous Andaman and Nicobar islanders probably practised cannibalism until recent times.

A British official once asked a Minicoy islander what the name of his island was. The islander told the official that he was from Maliku but usually lived in “Minikaa-raajje” (Nicobar). The good official thought Maliku and Minikaa were the same place and recorded the name of this islander’s home as “Minikaa”. This later became Anglicised as Minicoy.

Little did this islander know that as a result of this cross-cultural exchange, his home would forever be called by a name that sounded like “cannibal” in his own language.

As of 2001 India census,[3] the island of Minicoy had a population of 9,495. Males constitute 49% of the population and females 51%. Minicoy has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 80%. In Minicoy, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. The people of Minicoy are ethinically Mahls, who locally call them selves Malikun.
Beyond the lagoons of Lakshadweep lie the famous coral reefs, home to sea turtles, dolphins, eagle rays, lion fish, parrot fish, octopus and predators like barracudas and sharks. Mostly devoid of animal or bird life, only ten of the 36 islands are inhabited by humans, with a total population of just over 50,000, most of whom are Malayalam-speaking Sunni Muslims

Agriculture

Coconut is the only major crop with a production of 553 lakh nuts per year. The area under cultivation is about 2,669 hectares. Lakshadweep coconut is branded as an organic product. In India, Lakshadweep stands first in coconut production, and productivity per hector is 19,667 per ha, and average yield per palm per year is 97 nuts. The Lakshadweep coconuts are the highest oil content nuts in the world (82 per cent).

Fisheries

Fishing is another major activity. The sea around the island is highly productive. The islands stand first in the country in per capita availability of fish. During 2004, 10,300 tonnes of fish have been landed in this U.T.

Fisheries

Industries

Coconut fibre extraction and conversion of its fibre products is the main industry in the islands. Under Government Sector, there are seven coir fibre factories, seven coir production cum demonstration centers, and four fibre curling units, functioning under coir sector. These units produce coir fibre and coir yarn in addition to other coir products like curled fibre, corridor mat, mat and matting’s. Small coir units are also functioning under private sector in different islands.