Amini is a census town in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It is also the name of the island where the town stands and of the atoll that contains that island.
It lies 407km (253mi) west of the city of Kochi.
History
Amini Island was one of the first islands in the archipelago to be inhabited. The artisans on this island are known for making walking sticks out of coconut shells and tortoise shells as well as carved stone and coral motifs.[citation needed]
Geography
The channel between Amini Island and Cardamom Island is safe and deep, but depths of less than 10 meters project 0.5 mile south from the south tip of the reefs surrounding Cardamom Island. Amini Island Light is shown on the south point of the island.
Amini Island, the most important of the Amindivi Islands,[citation needed] is oval, with the long axis oriented northeast–southwest. It is 2.8km long and up to 1.3km wide, yielding a land area of 2.71km2 (1.05sqmi). It is fringed by a reef 0.3 to 0.6km wide.
Demographics
Amini village is in the middle of the west coast of the Island. A raised stone platform jetty, with steps leading to the beach, is in front of the village. There is a post office and a hospital at the village.
The small village of Hujrapali is on the east coast.
As of the 2011 India census,[3] the island of Amini had a population of 7,657. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Amini has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of 59.5%, with 55% of the males and 45% of females literate. 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Pitti Bank
Amini Island lies at the northeastern extremity of Pitti Bank, 42km from the small, uninhabited Pitti Island (not to be confused with Pitti Islet of Kalpeni Atoll), which is located at the opposite southwestern extremity of the bank. Pitti Bank, also oriented along a northeast–southwest axis, is 49km long, in the northern part from 2 to 7km wide and in the southern part up to 18km wide. Pitti Bank may be considered a largely submerged and sunken atoll, with an estimated lagoon area of 415km2 (160sqmi), with just the two islands Amini and Pitti remaining at its opposite ends. Kadmat island, although just 5km northeast of Amini Island, is separated from it by a deep channel and thus forms a separate geographical unit.
