The archipelago is about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives, 1,880 kilometres (1,170 mi) east of the Seychelles, … See more

Structures on the islands are located in the joint defence and Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, although the Plantation house and other structures left behind by the Ilois are still standing, however left abandoned and decaying. Other uninhabited … See more

The Chagos, together with the Maldives and Lakshadweep, forms the Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests terrestrial ecoregion. The islands and their … See more

Early history
According to Southern Maldivian oral tradition, local traders and fishermen were occasionally lost at sea and became stranded in one of … See more

The Chagos had been administered from imperial offices in Mauritius since the 18th century when the French first named the islands. All of the islands forming part of the French colonial … See more

Chagossians
The islanders were known as the Ilois (a French Creole word for "islanders") and they numbered about 1,000. They were of mixed African, South … See more

Past
Successive UK governments, both Labour and Conservative, have supported environmental conservation of the Chagos. They have committed to treating the whole area as a World Heritage Site. In 2003 the UK … See more