I was watching a documentary on Discovery channel, and something the documentary highlighted caught my attention.

You all must have heard of the Dubai’s “The World”. A number of small islands combined to gather forming the shapes of the continents. Let’s look into a bit about the idea and how this creative idea came to a reality.

The World is an artificial archipelago of various small islands constructed in the rough shape of a map of the landmasses of the Earth, located 4 km (2.5 mi) off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The World islands are composed mainly of sand dredged from Dubai’s shallow coastal waters, and are one of several artificial island developments in Dubai. The World’s developer is Nakheel Properties, and the project was originally conceived by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai.

Islands in the archipelago range from 14,000 to 42,000 square meters (150,000 to 450,000 sq ft) in area. Distances between islands average 100 meters (330 ft). The entire development is an area that covers 6 by 9 kilometers (3.7 by 5.6 mi) and is surrounded by an oval-shaped breakwater island. Roughly 232 km (144 mi) of shoreline was created. The World’s overall development costs were estimated at $14 billion USD in 2005. When dredging has been completed, there will be 321 million cubic meters of sand and 31 million tons of rock on the Islands.

Aaaah! A lot of money and a lot of sand and rock, a lot of work and a creative dream came into reality. Oh yeah I have made you read a lot right, and did I really mention the CrAxY thing about all this Dubai, The World, miles away from Maldives….. hmm guess not.

Well let me tell you!

Do you know that the key to this project was Maldives? The only reason these 260 islands or so are above sea is Maldives? That without Maldives they could not have done this!

How come? Why Maldives?

And here is why.

When the Sheikh handed over this project, the engineers had one main challenge without which they could not start the project and make the sheikh happy.

Yea! Engineers had to build a barrier around the world to keep everything in the world safe, sheikh made things harder for them; he said the barrier should be very low in order for the islands to see the open ocean. Now how on earth are they going to achieve this? Huge waves, horrible storms, to protect from all of this a low barrier?

The Engineer who was working on this was flying on a sea plane on his way back to Dubai from Maldives when he looked down to see the beautiful islands of Maldives, and that was the moment when he was inspired by the low laying coral reefs of Maldives, keeping the islands safe and in no way blocking the view of the open ocean. YES Maldives is truly an Inspiration.

The idea was simple a stretched out reef with different layers of height, more like a stair case with wider steps. As the waves pass over it, it cut downs the waves power and in the end the wave dies off. Creative isn’t it.

And knowing that Maldives played the most vital role in the creation of a wonder everyone is amazed about, I feel proud to be a Maldivian. The happiness ran through me as I heard it.

And I said to myself “Maldives a true Inspiration”.

Note: CrAxY Loves Comments / So please do leave yours J

Till next time tc.

Information from Discovery Channel and wikipedia

Hey all, been long since i updated this CrAxY place..well guess this is an update now..so where was i huh ? well i was busy with KS anniversary (KS – Kalaafaanu School) and also helping a sweet girl in some fair in Dharumavantha School, And helping out some children in a few dances… well still stuck up with a few more of those.. and guess what !! as usual i did not have time to update.. so whats the CrAxInEsS this time.. here it goes

I just came to think about this word “Atoll”, Which checked up on the English Dictionary. And i was wondering why Atoll its just not so English like word, and with that i thought i would just do some research on it and then i came to know… to know .. to know.. aaaaaah .. to know… hmm to know.. that it got some deep shit to it.. ekkekekeek.

I came to know that Maldives is a whole lot more – a history going back to at least 1,500 BC, distinctive island culture, and a nation that is struggling to reconcile tradition with modernity. Dhivehi, the Maldivian language, contributed the word “Atoll” (a ring-shaped coral reef) to the English language.

The English Language Extracted this word from the word “Atholhu ” in Dhivehi (an Indo-Aryan language spoken on the Maldive Islands). Its first recorded use in English was in 1625 as atollon. WOW !!! koool huh!! it gets better.

And then a suprise.. do you know the guy named Charles Darwin.. yeah the one who talked about evolution, famous person and a genius huh.. well this dude popularized
the word “Atoll” in 1842.

So we got a Dhivehi originated word in the English Language, also a word which was popularized by one of the most famous people ever lived.

And who ever made the word Atholhu was definitely a Maldivian, and who ever it was may god bless his/her soul, And thanks for getting us a space in the English Dictionary.

Well that’s it for this update.. see ya all .. get CrAxY.. and Do comment. please..!! cya..