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Early Visitors
The first reference to Maldives is in the second century writings of the Greek astronomer, mathematician and geographer, Ptolemy, who refers to it as "1378 little Islands west of Taprobane (Sri Lanka). Since then, many travelers have referred to it: Pappus Alexandria who lived at the end of the 4th century mentions Taprobane and the 1370 adjacent islands. Scholasticus, the Theban who visited the Malabar Coasts mentions "a thousand islands and their treacherous nature since they had loadstone rocks which attracted iron-bound vessels to their destruction". The Persian Merchant Suleiman (9th Century) who crossed the Indian Ocean, wrote: " in the sea known as the sea of Herkend, there are nearly 1900 islands and the ruler is a woman, and that their wealth consisted of cowries". Ma Huan who traveled with Cheng Ho's great expedition to east Africa in 1433, identifies some of the islands and tells how foreign ships travel from afar to purchase ropes, in his Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores.
