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Minicoy Island

Minicoy
Native name: Maliku
Minicoy is located in India
Minicoy
Minicoy
Geography
Location Arabian Sea
Coordinates 8°16′30″N 73°03′00″E / 8.275°N 73.05°E / 8.275; 73.05Coordinates: 8°16′30″N 73°03′00″E / 8.275°N 73.05°E / 8.275; 73.05
Archipelago Lakshadweep
Adjacent bodies of water Indian Ocean
Total islands 1
Major islands
  • Minicoy    
Area 4.801 km2 (1.854 sq mi)
Highest elevation 2 m (7 ft)
Administration
Territory Union territory of Lakshadweep
District Lakshadweep
Island group Minicoy Islands
Tehsils of India Minicoy Tehsil
Subdivisions of India Minicoy Ward
Demographics
Demonym Malayali
Population 10700 (2014)
Pop. density 2,229 /km2 (5,773 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups Malayali, Mahls
Additional information
Time zone
PIN 682559
Telephone code 0489x
Official website www.lakshadweep.gov.in
ISO Code IN-LD-09
Literacy 84.4%
Avg. summer temperature 32.0 °C (89.6 °F)
Avg. winter temperature 28.0 °C (82.4 °F)
Sex ratio /
unit_pref Metric

Minicoy, locally known as Maliku (Dhivehi: މަލިކު [məliku]; Malayalam: മലിക്കു) is the southernmost atoll of the archipelago of Lakshadweep, India. Administratively, it is a census town in the Indian union territory of Lakshadweep.

The ancient name of Maliku (Minicoy) was Mahiladū, mahila (women) + (island) meaning women's island. However, now Minicoy is called Maliku in the local 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 Lakshadweep.

Minicoy islanders have long settled in the Nicobar Islands across the Bay of Bengal. These settlers 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".

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 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.

Minicoy is the second largest and the southernmost among the islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago. It is located 201 km to the SSW of Kalpeni, at the southern end of the Nine Degree Channel and 125 km to the north of Thuraakunu, Maldives, at the northern end of the Eight Degree Channel. The atoll is 10 km in length, having a maximum breadth of about 6 km. The closest geographic feature is the Investigator Bank, a submerged shoal located 31 km to the northeast.


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