This is a list of monarchs of the
Maldives. All the rulers before King
Koimala only ruled over parts of the Maldives or Deeva Maari (and Dheeva Mahal) as it was known then. Koimala was the first king to rule over all the islands of the Maldives as we know today and the island of
Maliku. The Maldives was turned into a
Sultanate in 1153 when the Buddhist King
Dhovemi converted to
Islam. Prior to that the Maldives was a Buddhist Kingdom, a Hindu Kingdom and before that a matriarchal society with each atoll ruled by a chief queen according to some accounts or by others, several theocratic societies ruled by priests known as
Sawamias of
heliolatric,
selenolatric and
astrolatric religions. The formal title of the Sultan up to 1965 was,
Sultan of Land and Sea, Lord of the twelve-thousand islands and Sultan of the Maldives which came with the style
Highness. After independence in 1965 the Sultan assumed the title King with the style
Majesty.