chagos archipelago history

Although this is a long way from the UK, it is still directly relevant to those in the UK. …Seychelles colony, along with the Chagos Archipelago, formerly part of the Mauritius colony. Geography. During the Napoleonic wars Britain captured Mauritius and Réunion from the French. Eventually they were rescued and brought back home. By the mid twentieth century, there were thriving villages, schools, a hospital and above all, a benign, peaceful and undisturbed way of life that the Chagossian’s had enjoyed for generations on the islands. The Chagos Islands were a part of the French colony of Mauritius which was taken over by the British Empire in 1814. We are people of African, Indian and Malay ancestry who inhabited the Chagos Islands, specifically Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos and the Salomon island chain, as well as other parts of the Chagos Archipelago situated in the Indian Ocean from the late 18th to the late 20th century. As well as paying for transport to the U.K, Chagossians also had to pay for the immigration and permanent residency of close family members, including their own children. After emancipation, indentured Indians arrive helping to form a new, unique society and a people first known as the Ilwa. Although it includes some of what then happened between 1962 and 1973 when the last Ilois were removed after the detachment of the islands to form the British Indian ocean Territory, the account of this period is very cursory. The entire land area is a mere 56.1 km, with the largest island, Diego Garcia, having an area of 32.5 km2. Under the treaty of Paris in 1814, Britain restored Réunion to France, and France ceded to Britain Mauritius and its dependencies, which comprised Seychelles and various other islands, including the Chagos Archipelago. The Chagos Archipelago is a group of six atolls with more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean, that lies about 500 km (300 miles) due south of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, and 1600 km (1000 miles) southwest of India, halfway between Africa and Indonesia.Comprising the British Indian Ocean Territory, the entire archipelago is a British overseas territory. According to Southern Maldivian oral tradition, local traders and fishermen were occasionally lost at sea and became stranded in one of the islands of the Chagos. Our History. The Chagos Archipelago is made up of 65 coral islands in the Indian Ocean; it lies midway between Africa and Asia, 500 km south of the Maldives. It is home to an astonishing diversity of life, and acts as a refuge for many threatened species. The book can be purchased here: YPD Books. By then, the Indian Ocean and its African, Arabian and Indian coasts had become a centre of rivalry between the Dutch, French and British East India companies for dominance over the spice trade and over the routes to India and the Far East. Chagos Archipelago Island History, British acquisition as Indian Ocean British Territory in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius Claim in ICJ . 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 Thus for many centuries the Chagos were ignored by their northern neighbours. Various legal challenges and judgements resulted in the Chagossians repeatedly being denied the right to return to their islands. The Chagos islands were first discovered, uninhabited, in the 16th century. The first successful colony was founded on Diego Garcia in 1793 under the French rule. (1971) Settlement and development of Diego Garcia. ; Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes ( ~~~~). Near complete records of births and deaths exist in the registers from three atolls in the Chagos Archipelago (Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, and Salomon) for the period 1901-1964. They went on to build one of the most important US military bases outside of the United States. The Chagos Islanders have had few victories in their long battle to return from British-enforced exile to their archipelago homeland in the Indian Ocean. The former parts of the Seychelles are returned to Seychelles in 1976. Many Chagossians migrated to the U.K at their own expense, to claim their birth right. However, these islands were judged to be too far away from the Maldives to be settled permanently by Maldivians. They were often treated as second class citizens, they were left uneducated and resided in slums. After the British Indian Ocean Territory had been created, the UK Government gave an undertaking to return the Chagos islands to Mauritius when they were no longer required for defence purposes. In 1814, with the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Chagos along with Mauritius and the Seychelles were ceded to Great Britain through the Paris treaty. The islands of the Chagos Archipelago were uninhabited until the late 18th century, when the French established copra plantations using slave labour in 1793. “ (a) Was the process of decolonization of Mauritius lawfully completed when Mauritius was granted independence in 1968, following the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius and having regard to international law, including obligations reflected in General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, 2066 (XX) of 16 December 1965, 2232 (XXI) of 20 December 1966 … The islands, which are home to US military base Diego Garcia, were separated from the former British territory of Mauritius during decolonization in 1968. Discovered by the Portuguese in the early 16th century, it was for most of its history a dependency of Mauritius. In 1965, London detached … By the end of the 18 th century the population was 300. Thereafter, the judgements revealed that the Chagossians should never have been sent to Mauritius and as a consequence, all native born Chagossians were granted British nationality in 2002. The Chagos Archipelago is made up of over 55 islands. Many of them intermarried with the inhabitants, thus becoming ancestors to some of today’s Chagossians. The territory doesn't have self-government. The Chagos islands were first discovered, uninhabited, in the 16th century. 550 pages. Although, this right only extended to their children if they were born between two arbitrary dates. Why is the Chagos Archipelago so important? The Chagos Archipelago is located in the Indian Ocean, and forms the British Indian Ocean Territory. The scars of this traumatic experience of living in enforced exile are still visible in our community today. First inhabitants arrive in Chagos Archipelago as enslaved Africans. The Chagos Islands are a group of islands located in the Indian Ocean. 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