simple descriptive text about maldives island

The Maldive Islands is a South Asian Island Country located in the indian Ocean. The archipelago is situated in the Arabian Sea and lies South West of Sri Lanka and India. The Maldives are formed by a number of natural atols and has a chain of 26 atolls plus atolls in the form of isolated reefs. The atolls of Maldives are very complex structures and were formally dangerous to explorers and navigators. 

In the 12th century, the Maldivan archipelago accepted Islam as a religion and consolidates a sultunate later on which developed strong commercial and cultural ties with Asia and Africa. From the 16th-century, the archipelago region came under heavy influence of the European colonial powers, with the Maldives becoming a British territory under the British colonisation of India. They gained their independance in 1986 and elected the first Majlis of the people.