The social structure is anthropologically interesting, being a matrilineal Muslim society with natolocal residence. A man will live in either his mother's or his wife's house. Remarriage for both men and women is accepted. Property is inalienable and owned by "houses" (matrilineal descent groups). As Muslims, they have conservative customs and traditions and yet they are liberal in approach. Here a man after marriage stays a member of his own mother's house throughout his life. Quite frequently Minicoy is referred to as the "female island" mentioned in the travelogue of Marco Polo.