Judging from the distance between the Andaman Islands and the surrounding countries, we prefer to believe that Myanmar is the owner of the islands, but in fact its owners are far away from India. Judging from India's performance since independence, restoring the glory of British India seems to have been the goal of several generations of common struggle, and it is reasonable for Indians to pocket the Andaman Islands under British rule.
However, looking south along the Indian subcontinent, there is another archipelago known as the "Broken Pearl" – the Maldives – at the same distance as India and the Andaman Islands. What are the twists and turns in this strategic location, which is also a territory of British origin that India cannot claim for itself?
As far as the history of the Andaman Islands and the Maldives is concerned, it is difficult to say which country they belong to, because before the dawn of modern civilization shone into the sea, the local people did not have a mature concept of the state, and correspondingly did not have a complete state system. Six hundred years ago, during Zheng He's voyage to the West, the Ming fleet may have made brief stops at these two places, so the history books often describe them only in passing. Judging from the few words that have survived, the Andaman Islands and the Maldives at that time were still in a state of obscurantism and uncivilized, and in comparison, the Andaman Islands were more backward than the Maldives.
Judging from the topography of the Andaman Islands, a series of vault-like hills are arranged from north to south, and there is very little flat land available, which is the main reason why the islands have been unattended during the long ancient period. The Andaman Islands really came into view after the arrival of the British, when the East India Company discovered and occupied them in 1789, but the current situation of "lack of people and resources" also caused headaches for Western colonists. Judging by the location of the Andaman Islands, the blockade of the Strait of Malacca seems to be one of its most strategic functions, but until the Strait of Malacca has risen to the position of a choke point, the significance of the Andaman is not as important as it is today.
After some investigation, the British found that although the islands had little economic value, they were very suitable as prisons for prisoners, so during the British Indian period, it became the ultimate destination for the leaders of various anti-British forces. However, during the British rule of India, Burma and the Andaman Islands, the British did not specify whether the archipelago belonged to India or Burma, and these foreign colonists simply merged the three into a unified "British India". After the Second World War, the British Empire's colonial system collapsed completely, and the British faced four choices for dealing with the Andaman Islands: either to India, or to Burma, or to manage themselves, or to let them become independent.
Weighing the pros and cons, the British made the final choice – to leave it to India. First of all, the strength of the Andaman does not have the conditions for independence, and allowing it to stand on its own will only attract the infiltration of foreign forces, which the British do not want to see; secondly, the Andaman is not the Falklands, and it is not conducive to Britain maintaining its influence in South Asia under the premise that British India has become independent; third, the balance between India and Burma is very different in strength, if the archipelago is handed over to Burma, it is bound to lead to war between India and Burma and India's antipathy to Britain, which is also not conducive to Britain maintaining influence in South Asia. Eventually, India incorporated the Andaman Islands into its territory, but it was unable to touch the Maldives.
The reason is simple: the Maldives, though also a British colony, was never part of British India. That is to say, when the British packaged a series of regions such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Andaman Islands into "British India", the Maldives was not among them.
Since india and the Maldives have no connection, then the former annexation of the latter will also lose its legal basis, and the forced annexation will only lead to the armed intervention of Britain and the United States, which is the main reason why it eventually acquired the Andaman Islands and omitted the Maldives.