Before the airport was built it used to be the home of the aboriginal Giraavaru
people. In 1968, they were forced to abandon their ancestral home on Giraavaru
island under an Islamic regulation that did not recognise communities with
fewer than 40 adult males who could form a quorum at the Friday prayers. The
Giraavaru people were ferried across the atoll lagoon to Hulhule Island. When
the airport there was extended, they were shifted across to Malé and housed in
a few blocks in newly reclaimed areas in the Maafannu district.
