Amindivi Islands, Bitra, Lakshadweep, India
Lakshadweep, commonly known as Laccadives, is an Indian union territory. It is a 36-island archipelago in the Arabian Sea, spanning 200 to 440 kilometers off the Malabar Coast. The name Lakshadweep means “one lakh islands” in Sanskrit, despite the fact that the Laccadive Islands are only one of a hundred islands in the archipelago. Malayalam is the predominant and most generally spoken native language in the area. The islands constitute India’s smallest union territory, with a combined surface area of only 32 km2. Ten of the islands have residents. The Union Territory had a population of 64,473 people according to the 2011 Indian census. The indigenous population is Muslim, with the majority belonging to the Sunni Shafi school. The islanders are ethnically related to the Malayali people of Kerala, India’s neighboring state. Agatti Island has an airport that serves the islands. The people’s major occupations are fishing and coconut agriculture, with tuna being the main export commodity.