The Maldives are a collection of more than 1000 islands and coral atolls in the Indian Ocean to the south of
India and west of
Sri Lanka. The name is derived from the Sanskrit
māla = garland and
dvīpa = island. Although the people of the Maldives are now Muslims they were all Buddhists until the 12th century. Ruins of
monasteries and
Stūpa have been found on several of the larger islands and the earliest written records pertain to Buddhism. In February 2012 Islamic extremists broke into the National Museum in Male and destroyed nearly all the ancient Buddhist artifacts.