Dhanbidhoo
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Dhanbidhoo
| native_name_lang = dv
| settlement_type = Inhabited island
| pushpin_map = Maldives
| pushpin_relief = y
| pushpin_mapsize = 250
| pushpin_label_position = left
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Maldives
| coordinates = {{coord|02|05|40|N|73|32|45|E|region:MV|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Maldives
| subdivision_type1 = Geographic atoll
| subdivision_type2 = Administrative atoll
| subdivision_name2 = Laamu Atoll
| subdivision_type3 = Distance to Malé
| subdivision_name3 = {{convert|230.13|km|mi|abbr=on}}
| seat_type = Capital
| parts_type = Geographic atolls
| parts_style = list
| leader_title = Council
| leader_title3 = Mayor
| leader_title4 = Island Chief
| unit_pref = Metric
| length_km = 2.020
| width_km = 0.350
| population_total = 647 (including foreigners)
| population_as_of = 2014
| population_density_km2 = auto
| timezone = {{abbr|MST|Maldives Standard Time}}
| utc_offset = +05:00
| postal_code_type = Assigned Letter
| postal2_code_type = Assigned Letter {{small|(Dhivehi)}}
| area_code_type = Area code(s)
| blank_name_sec2 = Number of Islands
| blank1_name_sec2 = Inhabited
| blank2_name_sec2 = Uninhabited
| blank3_name_sec2 = Total
}}
Dhanbidhoo or Dambidū (according to the Admiralty Charts) (Dhivehi: ދަނބިދޫ) is one of the inhabited islands of Haddummati Atoll, administrative code Laamu.
History
This island has large ruins from the historical Maldivian Buddhist era.HCP Bell, The Maldive Islands; Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy. Reprint Colombo 1940. Council for Linguistic and Historical Research. Malé 1989.
=Dambidū Lōmāfānu=
Lōmāfānu are ancient royal edicts written on copper plates. Lōmāfānu edicts were etched on long copper plates held together by a ring of the same metal. The lōmāfānu were written in the curly Evēla form of the Divehi akuru or old Maldive alphabet and they are very important documents in the History of the Maldives.
The oldest lōmāfānu that have hitherto been found and preserved are from Malé, the royal capital, and from the islands of Isdū and Dambidū in Haddummati Atoll, where there were large Buddhist monasteries. These copperplates were issued at the end of the twelfth century AD. Thanks to the lōmāfānu it is also known that the monasteries in Haddummati Atoll were of great importance in the ancient Buddhist Kingdom of the Maldives.Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Barcelona 1999, {{ISBN|84-7254-801-5}}
In the Dambidū lōmāfānu the king of Maldives (Radun) addresses his edict to all islands between Kelā (in Tiladummati Atoll), one of the northernmost islands of the group, and Addu (Atoll) in the southern end. This (lōmāfānu), makes it clear that the general conversion from Buddhism to Islam was ordered by the king.
The Dambidū lōmāfānu tells us also that Satihirutalu (the Chatravali crowning a stupa) were broken to disfigure the numerous stupas. It tells us also that statues of Vairocana, the transcendent Buddha of the middle world region, were destroyed; and the destruction was not limited to sculptures.Ali Najeeb, Dambidū Lōmāfānu. Council for Linguistic and Historical Research. Male' 2001
Geography
The island is {{convert|230.13|km|mi nmi|0|abbr=on}} south of the country's capital, Malé.{{cite web|url=http://boulter.com/gps/distance/?from=4.175278+73.508889&to=2.094444+73.545833&units=k|title=Coordinate Distance Calculator|work=Boulter.com|access-date=8 August 2018}}
Demography
{{Historical populations
|align = center
|2006 |537
|2014 |622
|footnote = 2006-2014: Census populations
}}