Professor Nuno JV Rubim writes to the author from Portugal
 
".......indeed you are right. Maldives was never an official issue of Goa's governors, nor of the Portuguese crown. The Portuguese chroniclers, Barros, G Correia, Castanheda and Couto always referred to Maldives associated with the struggle against Mamale of Cannanore, Calicut and as a place to intercept ships bound to Mecca, specially from Aceh. Even the fort built at Malé was a private adventure."

 
Until about 1950, there was a street in Malé called Andiri Andirin Magu, named after the Regent of King Manoel Siri Dhirikusa Loka (previously known as Hassan IX). This street was to the West of what is now Maafannu Theemuge- the formally presidential compound. For nearly 400 years, the inhabitants of Malé did not find it offensive to have one of their streets named after a compatriot now vilified as a Portuguese invader. Interestingly there was no street named after Bodu Thakurufan (Kateeb of Utheem) until the 1990's, well some readers might think what does it have to do with streets? Well, if you know Maldivians then you will also know that Maldivians like to name things which they consider important.
 
Today, the annual Maldive display of fanaticism in bashing the modern state of Portugal has reached an embarrassing crescendo. The scale of ignorance is such that, based on a recently fabricated myth, a respected state of the European Union is insulted every year on the first day of Rabee el-Awwal.
 
Till date, there is no evidence of Portuguese occupation of Maldives, no such record exists in Portuguese archives and there is no reference to Portuguese rule in the Tarikh, the official Maldive chronicle written prior to the 20th century.
 
Although historical evidence suggest there was Portuguese backed coup to over throw the king in the Maldives, just like mercenaries who tried to over throw the government in November 3, 1988, these mercenaries were under the command of Christian King Manoel Siri Dhirikusa Loka, formerly Sultan Hassan IX. His regent in Malé was Andiri Andirin, a Maldivian by birth and upbringing, albeit of foreign parentage.
 
The oral tradition as related by Buraara Koi also refers to the Kaafaru to describe the persuasion of the non-Muslims in the Maldives at that time and only occasionally as Faranji.
 
Buraara is more specific than the Tarikh according to Buraara regarding the coup led by Andiri Andirin. When the Thakurufans of Uteem took up arms against the regime in Malé, according to Buraara, Andiri Andirin despatched a fleet of Malabars to quell the rebellion. Malabar was a term used to describe the people of the Western coast of Southern India.
 
At the time Malé finally surrendered to Kateeb Mohamed Thakurufan of Uteem, according to Buraara, the expatriates there comprised of Goans (undoubtedly Portuguese subjects), Frenchmen and Malabars and evidently they were all in the employ of Andiri Andirin. It was unlikely that any Portuguese authority would have engaged Frenchmen, subjects of a rival mercantile power.
 
Until his assumption of the regency in Malé, Andiri Andirin is referred to by Buraara as Goa Kalu Faranji, which means the ‘black Frank of Goa’ or the ‘black Christian of Goa’. Why was he black? At that time it was highly unlikely that there were any dark-skinned people in Europe. The Kingdom of Grenada, the last Moorish (some of whom were dark-skinned) state in Europe fell more than 50 years before to Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castille. Was Andiri Andirin not Portuguese?
 
The Tarikh and Buraara Koi, however, do refer to the Portuguese quite specifically. For instance there is a reference in the Tarikh to an abortive invasion in 1624 (over fifty years after the so-called Portuguese rule ended), in the reign of King Siri Kula Sundhura Katthiri Bavana (Sultan Shuja'i Mohamed Imaduddine I), headed by a captain ‘Balbagi’.
 
The authors of the Tarikh were very careful to describe the invaders specifically as Furhetikeysin (the Maldivian word for Portugal is Furhetikal and the Portuguese is Furhetikeysin) and not merely as infidels, Christians or Franks. (It must be noted that the Tarikh was written over nearly 300 years by many authors).
 
During the regency of Andiri Andirin, undoubtedly there would have been many Portuguese people based in the Maldives, as traders, mercenaries and missionaries. Other European mercantile powers in Asia, the French and the Dutch and later the English would have viewed this arrangement as Portuguese rule.
 
The myth of Portuguese rule is perpetuated annually since late 1940's. All manner of festivities, including school children made to perform quaint dances dubbed ‘cultural’, take place every year. These celebrations were canned in 1965, by Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir Rannabandeyri Kilegefan, until reinstated by the regime that succeeded his presidency. 
 
So, it is quite possible that Maldives was never invaded by Portuguese, but rather it was an Portuguese backed coup to overthrow the King.
 
Then another question arises, if Portuguese didn't invade Maldives, then why are we saying Portuguese occupied Maldives? Well, quite frankly the idea might had come from British, and then President Mohamed Ameen decided to adopt to the case in which Portuguese occupied Maldives, the president himself was the chief architect of this story. It all falls on time-line in which Maldivians were forced to accept that ‘Portuguese Invaded our beloved country’, it was when British were in our country, one has to think before 1940's why weren't there were any such claims by the government and historians alike.
 
These all suggests that an their was an internal struggle for power with in the Maldives which lead to an Portuguese backed coup by Hassan XI. Just like November 3, 1988 and therefore, Portuguese never occupied Maldives.

What do you think about it? Is the evidence sufficient enough to change what you are trained to believe in schools and by the government?