Maldives, Chagos Archipelago, French Colonial History.

Maldives, Chagos Archipelago, French Colonial History. Official contact between France and the Maldives goes back to the reign of the Diyamigily King Siri Navaranna Keerithi (Sultan Mohamed Imaduddine III al-Mukarram) in AD 1753.  In 1753, Muleege Dhon Hassan Manik (Dhon Bandaara) sent a delegation led by the minister Ali Maafaiy Manikfan to meet Joseph-François Dupleix, Governor of French India based in Pondicherry. As a result, a French squadron was dispatched under the command of Monsieur Le Termellier to Malé. The squadron did not take long to defeat the Ali Raja's ships anchored off the island of Dhoonidhoo near Malé. It then proceeded to Thiladummati Atoll, where a base had been established by the Ali Raja on the island of Dhonakulhi. The Cannanore invaders were dealt a crushing defeat. The victorious Maldivian forces returned to Malé with their French allies, and a pact was signed under which the squadron was allowed to establish a base at the Naaney Buruzu bastion along the Malé town wall. The squadron was allowed to fly the French flag from the bastion, and they remained there until recalled by Dupleix's successor. Until the middle of the 20th century, the narrow lane beside the Naaney Bastion was called Faranji-kaloa Goalhi (European Lane) in commemoration of the French contribution to Maldivian freedom. The King was then in custody at the hands of the Ali Raja of Cannanore at Kavaratti island in the Laccadives. Ali Raja's forces had conquered the Maldives in 1752 and had abducted the king after installing an administrator in Malé. The occupation lasted only four months when Maldivian forces led by an officer of the then disbanded royal militia, Muleegey Dom Hassan Maniku, overpowered and slaughtered the invaders in the dead of night. Dom Hassan Maniku (later King Siri Kula Ranmeeba Audha Keerithi Katthiri Bavana, also known as (Dom Bandaara) Formal relations between France and the Maldives date back to the reign of Diyamigily King Siri Navaranna Keerithi (Sultan Mohamed Imaduddine III al-Mukarram) in 1753 AD.