Where is Diego Garcia island located?
British Indian Ocean Territory
Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory is located at 7 Degrees South Latitude, off the tip of India. Diego Garcia is exclusively a military installation located on a small host country atoll in the Chagos Archipelago. The heavily vegetated island has an area of 6,720 acres.
What country owns Diego Garcia?
British territory
Diego Garcia is a British territory mostly populated by the US military, the British colony that’s been colonised by the Americans. Normally the island is home to about 1,700 military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors. But only about 50 troops are British.
Is Diego Garcia in Africa?
Reference no. Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. It is a militarised atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of 60 small islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago.
Why Diego Garcia is important?
As a former shadow of its colonial self, the U.K. government can point to Diego Garcia as one important way that it contributes to American military and intelligence capabilities, as well as to those of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance more broadly.
Does the US still use Diego Garcia?
The U.S. military uses Diego Garcia as a strategic point for launching operations in the Indo-Pacific, and has brought all three types of bomber aircraft to the atoll within the past two years.
What happened to the indigenous people of Diego Garcia?
Chagossians (often referred to as Ilois) were the indigenous people of Diego Garcia Island in the Indian Ocean. From 1965 to 1973 the U.S. government put them on the overcrowded boats and shipped them off to Mauritius. The island of Diego Garcia was completely emptied of all the local peoples.
What happened at Diego Garcia?
Does anyone live on British Indian Ocean Territory?
The territory is administered by a commissioner of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Although there is no permanent civilian population on the islands, generally about 4,000 U.S. and British military and contract civilian personnel are stationed there.
What language do Chagossians speak?
The Chagossians speak Chagossian Creole, a French-based creole language whose vocabulary also incorporates words originating in various African and Asian languages and is part of the Bourbonnais Creole family. Chagossian Creole is still spoken by some of their descendants in Mauritius and the Seychelles.