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Concept
Lakshadweep
Summary
Lakshadweep is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast.
The name Lakshadweep means "one lakh islands" (one hundred thousand islands) in Tamil and Sanskrit, though the Laccadive Islands are just one part of the archipelago of no more than a hundred islands. Jeseri is the primary as well as the widely spoken native language in the territory. The islands form the smallest union territory of India and their total surface area is approximately . The lagoon area covers about , the territorial waters area and the exclusive economic zone area . The region forms a single Indian district with 10 subdivisions. Kavaratti serves as the capital of the Union Territory and the region comes under the jurisdiction of Kerala High Court. The islands are the northernmost of the Lakshadweep–Maldives–Chagos group of islands, which are the tops of a vast undersea mountain range, the Chagos-Lakshadweep Ridge. The Lakshadweep originally consisted of 36 islands; however, due to the Parali 1 island being submerged in water due to sea erosion, 35 islands remain.
The islands were also mentioned in the Buddhist Jataka stories of the sixth century BCE. Islam was established in the region when Muslims arrived around the seventh century. During the medieval period, the region was ruled by the Chera dynasty, the Chola dynasty, and finally the Kingdom of Kannur. The Catholic Portuguese arrived around 1498 but were expelled by 1545. The region was then ruled by the Muslim house of Arakkal, who were vassals to the Kolathiri Rajas of Kannur, followed by Tipu Sultan. On his death in 1799, most of the region passed on to the British and with their departure, the Union Territory was formed in 1956.
Of the total 36 islands, 10 are inhabited. At the 2011 Indian census, the population of the Union Territory was 64,473. The majority of the indigenous population is Muslim and most of them belong to the Shafi school of the Sunni sect. The islanders are ethnically similar to the Malayali people of the nearest Indian state of Kerala.
Official source
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