Gan (Div: ގަން) is the southernmost island of Addu Atoll (also known as Seenu Atoll), as well as the southernmost island of the Maldives. It is relatively large by Maldive standards. The origin of the word "Gan" is in the Sanskrit word "Grama", meaning "village". Gan is the second largest island of the atoll, after Hithadhoo, and measures in area. Gan was formerly inhabited, but its inhabitants were moved to neighbouring islands after the British naval and airbase was built. It has had continuous human habitation since very ancient times. There were large cultivated fields of yams, manioc and coconut trees on this island. A former havitta at island's east end had to be removed to build the runway. Gan has now a hotel catering for tourists and is connected by causeways to the neighbouring islands of Feydu, Maradu and Hithadhoo. This island is not to be confused with two other Maldive islands called "Gan": Gan (Huvadhu Atoll) and Gan (Laamu Atoll). Archaeology In 1922 H. C. P. Bell visited this island and investigated the ancient Buddhist ruins there. These included the foundations of a temple (vihara) and a mound or low hill which was a very ruined stupa. Gan's ruins were the remains of the southernmost Buddhist site of the Maldives. The mound, as well as the foundations of the nearby vihara, were bulldozed when the airport was built. British base In 1941, during the Second World War, the Royal Navy established a base ("Port T"). An isolated island base with a safe, deep anchorage in a suitably strategic position was required, and Addu met the requirements. Once available, its facilities were used extensively by the Fleet. Royal Navy engineers landed in August 1941 from HMS Guardian to clear and construct airstrips on Gan for the Fleet Air Arm. In the interim, Catalina and Sunderland flying boats operated from jetties on the northern, sheltered side of Gan. Large oil tanks were built on Gan, and on Hitaddu Island on the western edge of the atoll; vital elements for a naval base. These were visible from a long distances at sea, but this was unavoidable, given the atoll's low profile. Ship's supplies for the fleet were provided from a pair of Australian refrigerated ships, Changte and Taiping that included Addu in a number of bases that they serviced regularly. Three times these ships replenished forty or more ships of the