Kudahuvadhoo


Kudahuvadhoo is one of the inhabited islands of Dhaalu or South Nilande Atoll in the Maldives.

History

''Hawittas''

Kudahuvadhoo has one of the mysterious mounds known as hawittas. These mounds are the ruins of Buddhist temples from the pre-Islamic period that have not been excavated yet. Thor Heyerdahl, who explored the island in the early 1980s, wrote that the ancient coral-stone mosque of Kudahuvadhoo possesses some of the finest masonry ever seen in the world.
Islam In Kudahuvadhoo
Kudahuvadhoo Loamaafaanu, provides that king Al-Sultan Valla Dio Kalaminjaa Siri Raa-Araa Desvaru Mahaa Radun, who ruled the Maldives from 1233.AD to 1258.AD was responsible for spreading Islam to the island. The inscription provides that the citizens of Kudahuvadhoo became Muslim 88 years after the country officially adopted Islam.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

On 19 March 2014 the New York Post said that residents of Kudahuvadhoo reported having seen a low-flying airplane travelling north to southeast towards Addu resembling the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in midflight to Beijing from Malaysia on 8 March 2014. This lent credence to one of the theories that the flight had been commandeered by someone who intended to land the plane in a remote area. Kudahuvadhoo had no airstrip at that time. The Malé International Airport north-northeast of Kudahuvadhoo was one that the pilot had practised landing on, using his homemade flight simulator. The claim that the sighted jet was MH370 was subsequently rejected by Malaysia's minister of transport and defence.

Geography

The island is south of the country's capital, Malé. It is the capital of the atoll.

Demography

According to the 2014 Census, conducted in September 2014, Kudahuvadhoo had a resident population of 2447..

Economy

People from other islands come to Kudahuvadhoo for better education and health facilities. Moreover, Kudahuvadhoo is the urban hub in the whole central area of the Maldives, which includes Faafu atoll, Meemu atoll and Dhaalu atoll.

Transport

Kudahuvadhoo is a fast developing island in the Maldives. Dhaalu Airport, the regional airport for Dhaalu atoll is located on Kudahuvadhoo and opened to the public in July 2017. The airport has a 1800m long runway making it one of the largest domestic airports in the Maldives.