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Chagos Archipelago
Map of the British Indian Ocean Territory
The Chagos Archipelago is a group of 65 main tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, lying 500km south of the Maldives. As a part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, the entire archipelago is a British overseas territory.
The entire land area of the islands is a mere 63 km˛, with the largest island, Diego Garcia, having an area of 44 km˛. There are five other main island groups: Peros Banhos, the Salomon Islands, the Eagle Islands, the Egmont Islands and the Three Brothers. Isolated islands include Nelsons Island and Danger Island.
The islands were discovered by Vasco da Gama in the early sixteenth century, then claimed in the eighteenth century by France as a possession of Mauritius. The United Kingdom gained possession of both Mauritius and the island in 1814, and retained the islands as part of the British Indian Ocean Territory when Mauritius gained independence. Since 1976, the archipelago has been coterminous with the British Indian Ocean Territory, but it is also claimed by Mauritius and the Seychelles.
Although there was no pre-European population, a few hundred people of mostly Indian descent known as the Ilois lived on the islands for several hundred years until they were expelled to Mauritius by the British Government between 1967 and 1973. Currently, the only habitation is a joint US-UK naval support facility on Diego Garcia. Other unhabited islands, especially in the Salomon group, are common stopping points for long-distance sailors travelling from Southeast Asia to the Red Sea or the coast of Africa.
The British Government instituted an investigation into relocating the former islanders to some of the uninhabited islands, but concluded that this was impossible due to a lack of fresh water. This is disputed by the former islanders, who point out that rainfall in the archipelago is among the highest in the world.
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You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
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To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagos_Archipelago
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