Atoll remains of an ancient atoll as a hill in a limestone area is called a reef knoll. The second largest atoll by dry land area is Aldabra with 155 km². The largest atoll in terms of island numbers is Huvadhu Atoll in the south of the Maldives with 255 islands. In 1842, Charles Darwin explained the creation of coral atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean based upon observations made during a five-year voyage aboard from 1831 to 1836. Accepted as basically correct, his explanation involved considering that several tropical island types—from high volcanic island, through barrier reef island, to atoll—represented
Faafu Atoll Faafu Atoll Faafu Atoll (also known as Northern Nilandhe Atoll or Nilandhe Atholhu Uthuruburi) is an administrative division of the Maldives. It corresponds to the natural atoll of the same name. Certain islands of this atoll used to be inhabited, like Himithi. The islanders were resettled in other islands so that Friday prayers could be held. NOTE: "Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa, Baa, Kaafu, etc. (including Faafu) are code letters assigned to the present administrative divisions of the Maldives. They are not the proper names of the natural atolls that make up these divisions. Some atolls are divided