The Maldive Islands are a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south in the Indian Ocean (tnx Wikipedia).
All but one of the twenty-six atolls lie north of the equator, in zone 22, which, for amateur radio purposes, counts as Asia.
However, the southern-most atoll, Addu (aka Seenu) Atoll, lies just south of the equator.
Much discussion has taken place as to whether the islands of Addu Atoll lie in zone 22 (Asia), or in zone 39 (Africa).
The EI8IC CQ zone map shows a clear demarcation between zones 22 & 39 running along the equator, which would put Addu Atoll in zone 39.
However, hammaps zone 22 map and zone 39 map show the demarcation line between these two zones to deviate south from the equator, resulting in Addu Atoll being in zone 22.
Please note that neither of these maps are official CQ zone maps.
Some QSL cards, eg that for VS9MF show the zone for Addu Atoll as 39.
However, the definitive statement comes from the CQ WAZ Manager, NF5G who says the "WHOLE Maldives are located in Zone 22. Never during the existence of WAZ was (there) any doubt."
Zone/Continent mappings
Based on the statement of the CQ Awards Manager above, Club Log maps all Addu Atoll stations to zone 22.
The southern-most island of Addu Atoll is the island of Gan, which was home to the British RAF base RAF Gan, from the late 1950s until the late 1970s.
The prefix for the Maldives at that time was VS9M, and all VS9M stations were QRV from RAF Gan (tnx G3LQP). In addition VS9UA and VS9RAF were QRV from Gan.
More recent operations from Addu Atoll have been by 8Q7KT (Gan I, October/November, 2001) and 8Q7CE (Feydhoo or Fedu I, January, 2010).
Related articles
Credits
Thanks for all who have contributed to the discussion, notably AD1C, and also thanks to NF5G.