Back Diego Garcia Afrikaans دييغو غارسيا Arabic دييجو جارسيا (جزيره) ARZ Дыега-Гарсія Byelorussian Дыега Гарсія BE-X-OLD Диего Гарсия Bulgarian দিয়েগো গার্সিয়া Bengali/Bangla Diego Garcia Catalan Diego Garcia (pulong kagaangan) CEB Diego García Czech
| Disputed island | |
|---|---|
 Aerial photograph of Diego Garcia | |
  Diego Garcia Location of Diego Garcia | |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 7°18′48″S 72°24′40″E / 7.31333°S 72.41111°E |
| Archipelago | Chagos Archipelago |
| Adjacent to | Indian Ocean |
| Area | 30 km2 (12 sq mi) |
| Administration | |
| Territory |  British Indian Ocean Territory |
| Claimed by | |
 Outer Islands | Chagos Archipelago |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 4,239[1] |
| Additional information | |
| Time zone | |
| Designated | 4 July 2001 |
| Reference no. | 1077[2] |
Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, a disputed overseas territory of the United Kingdom also claimed by Mauritius. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of the 60 small islands of the Chagos Archipelago. Portuguese sailors under Pedro Mascarenhas were the first Europeans to discover the island, finding it uninhabited in 1512. After a 1786 British colony failed, the French began using the island as a leper colony and, starting in 1793, coconut cultivation by enslaved labor. It was transferred to British rule after the Napoleonic Wars. It was one of the "Dependencies" of the British Colony of Mauritius until the Chagos Islands were detached for inclusion in the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965.
In 1966, the population of the island was 924.[3]: par 23 These people were employed as contract farm workers primarily on copra plantations owned by the Chagos-Agalega company. Although local plantation managers commonly allowed pensioners and the disabled to remain in the islands and continue to receive housing and rations in exchange for light work, children after the age of 12 were required to work.[3] In 1964, only 3 of a population of 963 were unemployed.[3] In April 1967, the BIOT Administration bought out Chagos-Agalega for £600,000, thus becoming the sole property owner in the BIOT.[4] The Crown immediately leased back the properties to Chagos-Agalega but the company terminated the lease at the end of 1967.[3]
Between 1968 and 1973, the Chagossian (Îlois) inhabitants were forcibly expelled from Diego Garcia by the UK Government so that a joint US/UK military base could be established on the island.[5][6] Many were deported to Mauritius and the Seychelles, following which the United States built the large Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, which has been in continuous operation since then.[6] In 2019, this action and continued British administration of the archipelago were deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, a ruling the United Nations General Assembly supported. However, the British dismissed this ruling as not legally binding. In 2023, Human Rights Watch condemned the action as a crime against humanity.[7] As of August 2018[update], Diego Garcia is the only inhabited island of the BIOT; the population is composed of military personnel and supporting contractors. It is one of two critical US bomber bases in the Indo-Pacific region, along with Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.[8]
The atoll is located 3,535 km (2,197 mi) east of Tanzania's coast, 1,796 km (1,116 mi) south-southwest of the southern tip of India (at Kanyakumari), and 4,723 km (2,935 mi) west-northwest of the west coast of Australia (at Cape Range National Park, Western Australia). Diego Garcia lies at the southernmost tip of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge, a vast underwater mountain range[9] with peaks consisting of coral reefs, atolls, and islands comprising Lakshadweep, the Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago. Local time is UTC+6 year-round.[10]
- ^ "Country Profile: British Indian Ocean Territory (British Overseas Territory)". Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 12 April 2012. Archived from the original on 20 June 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "Diego Garcia". Ramsar Sites Information Service. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d Chagos Islanders v Attorney General Her Majesty's British Indian Ocean Territory Commissioner [2003] EWHC 2222 (QB) (9 October 2003), High Court (England and Wales)
- ^ R (on the application of Bancoult) v. Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2006] EWHC 1038 (Admin) (11 May 2006), High Court (Admin)
- ^ Nauvel, Christian (1 January 2007). "A Return from Exile in Sight? The Chagossians and Their Struggle". Northwestern Journal of Human Rights. 5 (1): 96.
- ^ a b Bengali, Shashank (14 August 2018). "A half-century after being uprooted for a remote U.S. Naval base, these islanders are still fighting to return". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
- ^ "UK, US Expelled Islanders 50 Years Ago, a Crime Against Humanity". Human Rights Watch. 15 February 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
- ^ "Chirayu Thakkar (12 Jul 2021) OVERCOMING THE DIEGO GARCIA STALEMATE". 12 July 2021.
- ^ World Wildlife Fund, ed. (2001). "Maldives-Lakshadweep-Chagos Archipelago tropical moist forests". WildWorld Ecoregion Profile. National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 8 March 2010. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
- ^ "World Time Chart" (PDF). US Navy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
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