British Indian Ocean Territory

The British Indian Ocean Territory is a British overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islandsmany very smallamounting to a total land area of 60km2. The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27km2, the site of a joint military facility of the United Kingdom and the United States.The only inhabitants are US and British military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 2,500 . The removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973. The Chagossians, then numbering about 2,000 people, were expelled by the British government to Mauritius and Seychelles to allow the United States to build a military base there. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, arguing that the forced expulsion and dispossession was illegal. The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, casual tourists, and the media.Mauritius has sought to gain control over the Chagos Archipelago, which was separated from its territory by the U.K. in 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory