The Maldives,[c] officially the Republic of Maldives,[d] and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is a country and archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean.[9] The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometres (470 miles; 400 nautical miles) from the Asian continent's mainland. The Maldives' chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu
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