The islands of Maldives appear in-between the trading route of the Indian Ocean. Thus settlers, and visitors from neighbouring regions and around the world have come in contact with the islands for as long as history has been recorded. Such is the to-and-fro flow of people and their cultures, that a marked effect has been left in the Maldivian people, the language, beliefs, arts, and attitudes. Differs in dialect in some regions and . Maldivian beliefs have been very much based around religion and superstition. Buddhist traditions of the islands’ first settlers before conversion to Islam in 1153 AD.