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The Maldives were originally settled by peoples who came from S Asia. Islam was brought to the islands in the 12th cent. Starting in the 16th cent., with the coming of the Portuguese, the Maldives were intermittently under European influence. In 1887 they became a British protectorate and military base but retained internal self-government. The Maldives obtained complete independence as a sultanate in 1965, but in 1968 the ad-Din dynasty, which had ruled the islands since the 14th cent., was ended and a republic was declared.
Following the British withdrawal from their base on the southernmost island of Gan in 1976, first the Soviet Union, then India and Sri Lanka courted Maldivian favor. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was first elected president in 1978 and has retained power since, has ruled in an authoritarian manner. He has been accused by Amnesty International of political repression. Indian troops landed in the Maldives in 1988 to foil one of several coup attempts. In the late 1980s, the Maldives joined with a number of coral atoll nations to raise international awareness of the consequences of global warming and in 1989 hosted an international conference to discuss this issue.
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