The territory, an archipelago of 58 islands also known as the Chagos Archipelago, covers some 640,000km 2 of ocean. [57][58] There are also donkeys roaming free on the island that were left behind when the Ilois were relocated. As of 2012[update], the islands have a transitory population of about 3,000 (300 British government personnel and 2,700 United States Army, Navy and Air Force personnel). There are port and jetty for unloading goods, which in the past was used by the plantation. Britain failed to leave the Chagos Archipelago by November 2019, as instructed by the UN. Other islands remain unspoiled and support a wide range of habitats, including unique Pisonia forests and large clumps of the gigantic fish poison tree (Barringtonia asiatica). The tribunal considered in detail the undertakings given by the United Kingdom to the Mauritian Ministers at the Lancaster House talks in September 1965. [56] Dugongs, being locally extinct today, once thrived in the archipelago and the Sea Cow Island was named after the presences of the species. Although Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas (1470 – 23 June 1555) is credited with having discovered the islands during his voyage of 1512–13, there is little corroborative evidence for this; cartographic analysis points to 1532 or later. The sovereignty of the Chagos is disputed between Mauritius and the UK. Chagos archipelago of five atolls, the most interesting is the atoll Diego Garcia. This zone extends 200 nautical miles from the islands. Coral reefs are scattered across the Indian Ocean, but let us note that here is the largest atoll in the world Great Chagos Bank. Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forest is composed entirely of low coral reef associated coralline structures, and sandy islands, which have grown upon the crest of the submarine Chagos-Laccadive Ridge. The tribes that inhabited the islands were forcibly removed by the US and British governments during the late 1960s and early 1970s—effectively turning the islands into a military base. The island names are a mixture of Dutch, French, English and Ilois Creole. Chagos Islanders remind us that Britain is a shameful coloniser, not a colony . I'm not going to do it for you, but if you type "Chagos Archipelago" into a Google search box and hit the return button, you'll have answers to all your questions and much, much more. There is considerable poaching of turtles and other marine life. Diego Garcia is currently the only inhabited island in the Chagos, all of which comprise the British Indian Ocean Territory, usually abbreviated as "BIOT". Besides beautiful pictures of the Chagos archipelago and atolls another interesting gone. The British administered the Chagos archipelago originally as part of a colony containing Mauritius and the Seychelles (which became its own colony in 1902). Maldives or the Maldive Islands lies on the Indian Ocean between Chagos Archipelago and … “The Chagos archipelago, which covers over 60 islands, would fit into our plan to develop tourism on other Indian Ocean islands that also belong to Mauritius.” “We hope to gain sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago in order to develop these islands for eco-tourism and other purposes.” A small group of six Chagossians residing in Seychelles recently returned from a week’s tour of their homeland, re-living a tragedy spanning six decades; the forced removal of hundreds of islanders from their home, to make way for a US military base. This means that Chagos has the most diverse breeding seabird community within this tropical region. Since being expelled, Chagossian natives have been prevented from returning to the islands. 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