Utheemu is famed as the birthplace of Sultan Mohamed Thakurufaanu, who with his brothers and his companions fought a fifteen-year-long war to drive out the Portuguese invaders who occupied the Maldives from 1558 to 1573.

Utheemu Ganduvaru is the wooden palace in which Sultan Mohamed Thakurufaanu lived and grew up.

It is well preserved and evokes more than any other existing building in the Maldives, the lifestyle of the rich, centuries ago.

From 1602 to 1607, a French sailor, François Pyrard de Laval spent time on the Maldives, and gave a detailed account of the customs of the islanders during the Utheemu dynasty.

The island is 297.32 km (185 mi; 161 nmi) north of the country's capital, Malé.