Facts About Lakshadweep

Lakshadweep the smallest union territory of India, is a group of islands 200 to 300 km off of the coast of Kerala in the Laccadive Sea. Their total land area is 11 sq mi or 32 km². Ten of the islands are inhabited. Lakshadweep is the northern part of the erstwhile Lakshadweepa.

The people of all the northern islands speak a dialect of Malayalam. According to local folk beliefs, they descended from traders who were washed up on the islands during a particularly heavy storm. However, the people of Minicoy, the southernmost atoll, speak Mahl, a variant of Divehi, the language of the Maldives.

The islanders are ethnically similar to coastal Kerala's Malayali people, and were influenced by Arab traders. Inhabitants of Minicoy, the southernmost and largest island, closely resemble Maldivians. Most of the indigenous population is Muslim. The locals call themselves the Div-i or the Aminidivi ("from the mother island"). There is also a sizeable Ahmadiyya Muslim Community there.