Sultanate of the Maldives

The Sultanate of the Maldives, also known as the Sultanate of the Maldive Islands, was an Islamic monarchy that controlled the Maldives for more than eight centuries, from 1153 to 1968, with a brief interruption between 1953 and 1954. The Maldives had been a Buddhist kingdom until its last Buddhist monarch, King Dhovemi, converted to Islam in 1153 and adopted the title and name Sultan Muhammad al-Adil, after which six dynasties ruled the islands until the sultanate became elective in 1932. From the sixteenth century the sultanate came increasingly under European influence, beginning with fifteen years of Portuguese rule, followed by Dutch hegemony and then status as a British protected state from 1796, before an abortive attempt at forming a republic in 1953 and eventual full independence from the United Kingdom.