01Start

Before the capital

The coral ring comes first

This is an atoll from the air: white sand inside a turquoise lagoon, reefs separating shallow water from the deep ocean. The journey does not begin on a city street. It begins with a coral ring and a low island, then drops into crowded Malé, then leaps by speedboat or seaplane to another atoll. That shape—an atoll, not a mountain or an urban bay—is the country’s measure.