Haa Alif Atoll is the code name based on the letters of the
Maldivian alphabet commonly used to refer to the administrative division officially known as
Northern Thiladhunmathi Atoll (
Maldivian: ''Thiladhunmathi Uthuruburi'') in the
Maldives
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...
.
It is the northernmost of the 19
administrative divisions
Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...
(known as
"Atolls") of the country, and is the third-largest administrative division in terms of population and land area.
This administrative division consists of
Ihavandhippolhu, the northernmost geographical atoll of the Maldive archipelago, and the northern section of
Thiladhunmathi atoll. The capital of North Thiladhunmathi Atoll is the island of
Dhidhdhoo where the Secretariat of North Thiladhunmathi Atoll Council is located.
Geography
The Northern Thiladhunmathi Atoll administrative division consists of a total of 43 islands spread over two
natural geographic atolls, namely Northern Thiladhunmathi, and Ihavandhippolhu.
Northern Thiladhunmathi is the northernmost portion of the huge Thiladhunmathi Atoll. Thiladhunmathi Atoll was administratively divided into northern and southern divisions in 1958.
Ihavandhippolhu lies to the north of Northern Thiladhunmathi, with the Ihavandhoo Kandu channel separating the two, and is the northernmost atoll of the Maldives. It is a small natural atoll 22 km in length. It has 25 islands lying all around the boundary reef. One long barrier reef forms the western side of the atoll. There are several coral patches in the lagoon and the general depth in the centre is 20 to 30 fathoms (35 to 55 m).
Ihavandhippolhu is separated from the
Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...
Islands of
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
by the broad channel known as
Māmalē Kandu (or Maliku Kandu).
Islands
Of the 43 islands in the North Thiladhunmathi Atoll administrative division, 14 of them are inhabited and are classified as administrative
island
An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
constituencies. Each of these constituencies have an island council which responds to the North Thiladhunmathi Atoll Council which has its headquarters on
Dhidhdhoo.
Island constituencies
Uninhabited Islands
All uninhabited islands in Haa Alif Atoll are under the control of the North Thiladhunmathi Atoll Council.
Resort Islands
Other Uninhabited Islands
Disappeared Islands
These are islands which during recorded history, have been completely eroded away, claimed by the sea due to the sea-level rise associated with global warming or assimilated by other islands.
*Gasthirifinolhu
*Gudhanfushi
*Huraa
*Nasfaru
*Thiladhoo (merged into
Dhidhdhoo, it was after this island that the atoll got its name of 'Thiladhunmathi')
*Thinadhoo
Administration
Atoll Council
The North Thiladhunmathi Atoll administrative division is governed by an Atoll Council. The atoll council was created in 2011 with the enactment of the Decentralization Bill, which saw the introduction of local governance to the country. The secretariat of the atoll council is located on
Dhidhdhoo.
The atoll is further divided up into 5 political
wards each with one
councillor
A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...
.
Members
References
* ''Divehi Tārīkhah Au Alikameh''. Divehi Bahāi Tārikhah Khidmaiykurā Qaumī Markazu. Reprint 1958 edn. Malé 1990.
* ''Divehiraajjege Jōgrafīge Vanavaru''. Muhammadu Ibrahim Lutfee. G.Sōsanī.
*
Xavier Romero-Frias, ''The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom''. Barcelona 1999.
{{coord, 6.88, N, 73.112222, E, source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title
Administrative atolls of the Maldives