The Chagos group is a combination of different coralline rock structures topping a submarine ridge running southwards across the centre of the Indian Ocean, formed by volcanoes above the Réunion hotspot. [41], On 22 May 2019, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favor of setting a six-month deadline for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the Chagos Archipelago, which would then be reunified with Mauritius. Initially the workers were slaves, but after 1840 they were freemen, many of whom were descended from those earlier slaves. The archipelago is about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives, 1,880 kilometres (1,170 mi) east of the Seychelles, 1,680 kilometres (1,040 mi) north-east of Rodrigues island, 2,700 kilometres (1,700 mi) west of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and 3,400 kilometres (2,100 mi) north of Amsterdam Island. History is strewn with people screwed over by humanity. Diego Garcia, the largest island of the group, was considered “one of the most strategically placed air bases to launch flying-boat strikes against the U-boats which might try to escape to Japan.” However, the plantations, both under their previous private ownership and under government administration, proved consistently unprofitable due to the introduction of new oils and lubricants in the international marketplace, and the establishment of vast coconut plantations in the East Indies and the Philippines. The then-independent Mauritian government refused to accept the displaced islanders without payment, and in 1973, the United Kingdom gave the Mauritian government an additional £650,000 as reparation payments to resettle the islanders. In 1810, Mauritius became a colony of the United Kingdom and in 1965, the United Kingdom split Mauritius and … The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), an archipelago of 58 islands covering some 640,000 sq km of ocean, is a British Overseas Territory. The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), also called the Chagos Islands, is a British overseas territory. [31], Litigation continues as of 2012[update] regarding the right of return for the displaced islanders and Mauritian sovereignty claims. Also called British Indian Ocean Territory. In fact, it is very hard to get to at all, as the main atoll, Diego Garcia, is also a joint military facility of the USA and the UK. [48], The reefs host at least 371 species of coral including the endemic brain coral Ctenella chagius. These efforts will ultimately help to improve the biodiversity of the Chagos Islands. The islanders were known as the Ilois (one French Creole word for "islanders") and they numbered about 1,000. The UK has restricted access to the Chagos Archipelago to casual tourists, the media, and its former inhabitants. Report. Chagos Islands: UK refusal to return archipelago to Mauritius show the limits of international law November 26, 2019 11.10am EST Miriam Bak McKenna , Lund University [50] High water temperatures, however, caused coral bleaching in both 2015 and 2016 which resulted in the death of more than two thirds of corals. The Chagos Archipelago was originally chartered by Vasco de Gama in the 1500s, but wasn’t colonized until the eighteenth century when the French claimed the archipelago as a part of Mauritius. Visits to the islands are tightly controlled and certain restrictions put in place; some of the islands have been designated as Strict Nature Reserves and it is illegal to enter them. On 23 June 1976, Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches were returned to the Seychelles. 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