Theeru Raajje across the Carlsberg Ridge: Indigenous Maritime Orientation and the Naming of Foalhavahi (later rendered as Chagos) in the Indian Ocean

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Author: Pen for Rights – Research & Documentation
Affiliation: Maldivians for Chagos
An Indian Ocean decolonisation initiative

Abstract

This article examines Theeru Raajje as an indigenous Maldivian maritime concept predating European intervention in the Indian Ocean and argues that it corresponds to the oceanic realm later identified by Europeans as the Mascarene region (Chaudhuri 1985; Pearson 2005). Drawing on Maldivian directional navigation, early Arabic nautical literature, and pre- and post-sixteenth-century European cartography, the study distinguishes Theeru Raajje, a directional maritime domain west of the Carlsberg Ridge, from Foalhavahi, a specific indigenous toponym associated with the Laccadive–Chagos Ridge east of that boundary (Mohamed 2005; Maloney 1976).

The article traces how Foalhavahi entered European documentary and cartographic systems through Portuguese clerical mediation and French mapmaking as Polvera and related variants from the mid-sixteenth century onward, while Chagos remained cartographically associated with the Mascarene context for more than two centuries (Pearson 2008). It demonstrates that the nineteenth-century relocation of Chagos onto the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge, replacing Polvera, constituted not merely a change in nomenclature but a cartographic misplacement across a major tectonic boundary (Maloney 1976; Raben 1996).

By integrating indigenous maritime orientation, linguistic transmission, political context, and geological differentiation, this study shows that European cartography did not simply record Indian Ocean geography but actively reconfigured it, fragmenting Theeru Raajje and erasing the indigenous toponym Foalhavahi (Chaudhuri 1985; Pearson 2005).

Keywords: Theeru Raajje; Foalhavahi; Indian Ocean navigation; indigenous maritime cognition; Carlsberg Ridge; exonymic transmission; cartographic displacement

1. Introduction

European cartography of the Indian Ocean is often treated as a cumulative record of discovery, in which islands entered history through Portuguese navigation and were subsequently stabilized through colonial mapping (Panikkar 1959; Pearson 2008). Within this framework, the first appearance of a place-name on a European map is frequently equated with geographical discovery, while indigenous spatial systems are relegated to the margins of interpretation.

This article challenges that assumption by reconstructing the transformation of an indigenous Maldivian toponym “Foalhavahi” and situating it within a broader indigenous maritime conception known as Theeru Raajje. It argues that European cartography collapsed distinct indigenous spatial categories, ultimately misplacing names across a major geological boundary and producing a durable distortion in Indian Ocean geography (Chaudhuri 1985; Raben 1996).

The analysis proceeds by distinguishing three analytically separate elements:
(1) Theeru Raajje, an indigenous directional maritime realm;
(2) Foalhavahi, an indigenous toponym associated with the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge; and
(3) the European exonyms Polvera and Chagos, whose cartographic relocation obscured both indigenous naming and geological reality (Bell 1883; Maloney 1976).

2. Indigenous Maritime Orientation and Theeru Raajje

Pre-European Maldivian navigation conceptualized the ocean through directional bearings, seasonal winds, and extended sailing corridors rather than abstract cartographic grids (Mohamed 2005). One such bearing is known in Dhivehi as ތީރު (Theeru), denoting a south-western sailing direction from the Maldives.

The maritime realm associated with this bearing was remembered as Theeru Raajje-literally, “the realm of the Theeru direction.” This conception corresponds geographically to the Mascarene region, situated west of the Carlsberg Ridge, and functioned as an oceanic domain intelligible through direction and navigational practice rather than discrete island enumeration (Chaudhuri 1985; Pearson 2005).

Recognition of such a realm is not confined to Maldivian memory. In 1462, Ahmad ibn Majid refers to a maritime region termed Thiri Rāga, situated within the Maldivian sailing sphere (Hourani 1951; Pearson 2005). While orthographic variation is expected, the conceptual alignment with a south-western oceanic domain supports the existence of Theeru Raajje as a recognised maritime space prior to European intervention.

Crucially, Theeru Raajje denoted a directional maritime realm, not a specific island or ridge.

3. Foalhavahi and the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge

Distinct from Theeru Raajje was Foalhavahi, an indigenous Maldivian toponym referring to a specific island or island-group associated with the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge, located east of the Carlsberg Ridge (Malten 1983). This ridge constitutes a geologically discrete system from the Mascarene Plateau and occupies a different position within the Indian Ocean basin (Maloney 1976).

The existence of a named indigenous location within this ridge demonstrates that the area later rendered as Polvera was neither unknown nor unnamed prior to European cartography. Instead, it formed part of a Maldivian spatial vocabulary conceptually separate from the Mascarene-oriented Theeru Raajje (Bell 1883; Mohamed 2005).

4. Early Portuguese Cartography and the Absence of Polvera (1498-1519)

The absence of Polvera from early European maps is a critical element of the argument. Following Vasco da Gama’s arrival in the Indian Ocean in 1498, Portuguese hydrographic intelligence circulated beyond Iberia, most notably through the Cantino Planisphere (Panikkar 1959). Despite this early leakage, no toponym corresponding to Foalhavahi or Polvera appears south of the Maldives.

In 1512, Pedro Mascarenhas named certain islands in the Indian Ocean, including Dom Garcia (later Diego Garcia). These names followed Portuguese exploratory conventions but did not include Polvera (de Silva 2009).

The Miller Atlas (1519)-a Portuguese-produced atlas presented to the French court-confirms that this absence was not due to ignorance. The atlas demonstrates extensive Portuguese-French information sharing while omitting the toponym entirely, indicating that Polvera had not yet entered European cartographic nomenclature (Pearson 2008).

5. The Coincidence of Desceliers’ 1550 Chart and the Onset of Sultan Hassan IX’s Reign

The first cartographic appearance of Polvera occurs in Pierre Desceliers’ 1550 world map. This appearance coincides with the onset of Sultan Hassan IX’s reign, which began in late 1550 and extended into early 1552. During the initial phase of this period, Hassan IX exercised authority from the Maldivian throne before subsequent displacement (Bell 1883; Fitzler 1935–36; de Silva 2009).

This temporal alignment is significant. It situates the cartographic entry of Polvera at the moment of royal accession and on-island sovereignty, prior to the relocation of royal authority offshore. The coincidence therefore cannot be dismissed as retrospective or incidental.

6. Documentary Assertion, Political Contestation, and the Pullobay Letter

This constitutional distinction explains the necessity of Hassan IX’s written declaration concerning Pullobay. Portuguese royal and viceregal correspondence routinely sought clarification of island jurisdictions in regions where alliance, protection, and maritime logistics intersected (Panikkar 1959; Pearson 2008). It is therefore plausible that Portuguese authorities inquired specifically about the status of the island or island-group rendered as Pullobay.

Such an inquiry provided Hassan IX with both the occasion and the necessity to articulate a clear statement of sovereignty, linking Pullobay-corresponding to the Maldivian Follhavai / Foalhavahi-to the Maldivian crown. The declaration functioned not merely as geographic clarification but as a legitimating act.

At the time, Hassan IX faced internal opposition aligned with regional powers centered on Cannanore, whose rulers repeatedly intervened in Maldivian succession disputes and maintained wider Islamic political affiliations (Bell 1883; Fitzler 1935-36). In this context, seeking Portuguese protection was a strategic response to immediate threats rather than an abandonment of sovereignty (de Silva 2009). The letter should therefore be read as a defensive assertion of continuity (Pyrard de Laval 1887).

7. Exonymic Mediation and Phonetic Convergence

Foalhavahi and its regional northern variant Follhavai constitute indigenous Maldivian endonyms, embedded within a local spatial vocabulary that predates European intervention in the Indian Ocean. The variation between these two forms reflects internal phonetic differentiation within Maldivian speech communities rather than distinct locations, with Follhavai corresponding to northern Maldivian pronunciation patterns-relevant given Sultan Hassan IX’s regional origin.

These endonymic forms entered European documentary and cartographic systems through a sequence of exonymic renderings, including Pullobay, Polvarra, Polvera, and Pollouoys. Rather than indicating multiple locations, these variants represent successive attempts by Portuguese and French clerks and mapmakers to phonetically approximate a Maldivian toponym within their own orthographic conventions. Portuguese clerical practice frequently treated B and V as phonetically proximate and regularized unfamiliar terminal syllables, allowing Follhavai to be plausibly rendered as Pullobay. The cartographic form Polvarra reflects similar Portuguese conventions, while French normalization-operating within a different orthographic tradition-produced Polvera.

An independent phonetic capture appears in the narrative spelling Pollouoys recorded by François Pyrard de Laval, whose editors explicitly identify the term with the Maldivian name for the island-group in question (Pyrard de Laval 1887; Bell 1883). The coexistence of these forms across Portuguese administrative correspondence, French cartography, and early modern travel narratives demonstrates not geographical multiplicity but linguistic mediation across cultural and documentary contexts.

Taken together, these forms establish a coherent transmission sequence from an indigenous endonymic base (Foalhavahi / Follhavai) to a set of European exonyms shaped by clerical transcription and cartographic normalization. Recognising this process of exonymic mediation and phonetic convergence is essential to understanding how a Maldivian toponym was transformed within European knowledge systems, laying the groundwork for its later cartographic displacement and eventual erasure.

8. Coexistence and Nineteenth-Century Cartographic Drift

From the mid-sixteenth century until the nineteenth century, European maps consistently depict Polvera and Diego Garcia as distinct locations (Pearson 2005). During this period, Chagos remained associated with the Mascarene context corresponding to Theeru Raajje, while Polvera occupied the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge.

In the nineteenth century, the name Chagos migrated eastward across the Carlsberg Ridge, replacing Polvera on the Laccadive-Chagos Ridge. This reassignment collapsed two geologically distinct regions into a single cartographic identity (Maloney 1976; Raben 1996).

9. Conclusion

The replacement of Polvera by Chagos represents a case of cartographic misplacement across a tectonic boundary rather than a neutral evolution of naming. By integrating indigenous maritime orientation, linguistic transmission, political context, and geological differentiation, this study demonstrates that European cartography actively reconfigured Indian Ocean geography rather than merely recording it (Chaudhuri 1985; Pearson 2008).

Recognising Theeru Raajje and Foalhavahi as distinct indigenous spatial concepts is therefore essential to reconstructing pre-colonial Indian Ocean knowledge and reassessing the epistemic legacy of early modern mapping.

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