What the British left behind
The old runway at Gan is one of the longest in the Indian Ocean.
The old runway at Gan is one of the longest in the Indian Ocean.
It was built by the Royal Air Force in the 1950s, long enough to land the largest aircraft of the era. Today it is an airport with two or three flights a week, and locals use the long straight road alongside it for evening walks.
Fathimath works at a small museum on Hithadhoo that documents the British period. The artefacts are modest, photographs, documents, a few objects, but the oral history is rich.
The British were here for thirty years, she says. They built roads, a hospital, a power station. When they left, all of it stayed.
The relationship between the islanders and the base was complicated. Some Adduans worked for the British. Some resented the occupation. Some married British servicemen and left with them. The island absorbed all of it the way islands absorb everything, slowly, completely, until it becomes part of the place.
We drive the length of Gan on a borrowed bicycle. The old RAF buildings are still standing, solid British construction, now used as government offices and storage facilities.
History in the tropics looks different than history in cold climates. Here the jungle does not grow back over things. It grows through them.