British Indian Ocean Territory

British Indian Ocean Territory · Travel guide

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is a British Overseas Territory situated in the Indian Ocean. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands, many very small, amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 square miles). The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27 square kilometres (10 square miles), the site of a Joint Military Facility of the United Kingdom and the United States. Official administration is remote from London, though the local capital is often regarded as being on Diego Garcia. Mauritius claims that the British government separated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, creating a new colony, the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). There are ongoing negotiations on this dispute. Since 1971, only personnel of the British and United States military and associated contractors have been legally allowed to live on the Chagos Islands. The forced…