Lakshadweep
Lakshadweep is the smallest union territory of India. The group is located 200 to 300 km off of the coast of Kerala in the Arabian Sea. The total land area of the territory is 32 kmē. Eleven of the islands are inhabited. Lakshadweep is the northern part of the erstwhile Lakshadweepa.History
The first westerner on the islands was Vasco da Gama, but the British were the first to explore the islands. They are also mentioned in great detail in the stories of the Arab traveller Ibn Batuta. The Portuguese established a fort on the islands in May 1498, but the inhabitants soon rose up and expelled them. The Amindivi group of islands (Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Chetlat and Bitra) came under the rule of Tipu Sultan in 1787. They passed on to British control after the Third Anglo-Mysore War and were attached to the South Canara district. The rest of the islands became a suzerainty of the Arakkal family of Cannanore in return for a payment of annual tribute. After a while, the British took over the administration of those islands for non-payment of arrears. These islands were attached to the Malabar district of the Madras Presidency. In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act separated these islands from the mainland administrative units, forming a new union territory by combining all the islands.Islands
One of the uninhabited islands in LakshadweepLakshadweep officially consists of 12 atolls, 3 reefs and 5 submerged banks, with a total of about 32 islands and islets. The reefs are in fact also atolls, although mostly submerged, with only small unvegetated sand cays above the high water mark. The submerged banks are sunken atolls.Almost all the atolls have a northeast-southwest orientation with the islands lying on the eastern rim, and a mostly submerged reef on the western rim, enclosing a lagoons.
