Geography of the British Indian Ocean Territory
The
Physical geography
BIOT is an archipelago of 55 islands.
The climate is tropical marine; hot, humid, and moderated by trade winds. It is located outside the route of the cyclones.[3]
Marine reserve
The lagoon that surrounds the atoll has an area of about 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi). The maximum water depth in the lagoon is about 25 metres (82 ft). The width of the coral reef varies from 100–200 metres (330–660 ft) with a shallow depth of about 1 metre (3.3 ft) on the seaward side. The area covered by the fringing seaward reef shelf is about 35.2 square kilometres (13.6 sq mi). The bed slope noted at the outer edge of the reef shelf is steep towards the deeper end; the depth drops to more than 450 metres (1,480 ft) in some areas within 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) distance from the shore.
In 2010, the whole territory, as well as 545,000 square kilometres (210,426 sq mi) of ocean around the islands, was declared a marine reserve.[8] It is known formally as the Chagos Marine Protected Area,[9] because it is a "pristine ocean ecosystem now representing 16% of the world's fully protected coral reef."[10] Fishing is banned within the reserve area.[3] Diego Garcia is a Ramsar site.[11]
Landforms
Of the 55 islands of the Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia is the largest. Aside from this, the main islands are the Egmont Islands, Danger Island, Aigle (Eagle) Islands, Three Brothers, Nelson Island, Salomon Islands, and Peros Banhos at the northern end of the Chagos Archipelago.[12]
Diego Garcia
The coral atoll of Diego Garcia is approximately 1,970 nautical miles (3,650 km) east of the coast of Africa (at
Peros Banhos Atoll
The Peros Banhos Islands, which are the largest group on the Chagos Bank, consists of 27 islands scattered around the rim of an immense lagoon, which has a perimeter of 12 leagues (58 km) and enclosed some 310 square km of water. They consist of several groups of islets and reefs; deep channels separate them.[17] They had a population of some 400 islanders before the evacuation in 1965, the largest number living on Île du Coin in the southwest corner of the atoll (in the previous century, the dominant island was Île Diamant in the northwest corner of the atoll); in all, there were seven inhabited islands.
Salomon Atoll
Some 25 km east of Peros Banhos Atoll, the smaller Salomon group comprises eleven islands clustered around a lagoon measuring 8 km long and 5 km wide. Prior to the removal of its population, six of the islands were inhabited with a total of about 250 islanders. Île Boddam in the southwest was the principal settlement, while Île Takamaka in the east was the centre of boatbuilding for the archipelago.
Nelson Island, Three Brother Islands and Eagle Islands
Lying between Diego Garcia in the south, and the Peros Banhos and Salomon Atolls in the north, the remaining coralline islands are scattered over a wide area of the Great Chagos Bank, an area of atolls, reefs and shoals with an average depth of water of some 20 metres. Uninhabited
Danger Island
Six Îles, or Egmont Atoll
Finally, Six Îles Atoll (also called Egmont), 5 leagues (24 km) further south of Danger, was also occupied for short periods during the mid 19th century[19] until 1935. Besides the six named islands, the atoll also includes a seventh unnamed island. The atoll, in the form of "U", is a small strip of land with width varying from 30 metres (98 ft) to a maximum of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) at its northern extremity. The total land area of the atoll is 2,430 hectares (6,000 acres). A fringing reef circumscribes the atoll. There are two openings into the ocean. It almost encompasses a large lagoon. The lagoon itself is 20 kilometres (12 mi) in length and is more than 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) in width. Rounded pumice stones found on the eastern beach of the island by one of the explorers of the island have been inferred as debris from the Krakatoa volcanic eruption of 1883 [20] The atoll is 23 leagues (110 km) to the northwest of Diego Garcia, on the Great Chagos Bank. The islands are connected by reefs which are steep and there are no locations for anchorage on its shores.[17]
Human geography
In the late 18th century, coconut palm plantations were established on the island to produce
References
- ^ Notholt 2008, p. 5.
- ^ a b c "British Indian Ocean Territory". WorldAtlas.com. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g "British Indian Ocean Territory". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ a b c Central Intelligence Agency 2010, p. 93.
- ^ a b Haggett 2001, p. 2627.
- ^ Green 2006, p. 408.
- ^ Paul 1987, p. 146.
- ^ "Blue Reef visitors win support for the Chago campaign". BBC. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
- ^ "Chagos Island Marine Reserve". Marine Conservation Society (UK) SouthEast. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ Acton 2012, p. 524.
- ^ "Diego García inscrito en la Lista de Ramsar / Diego Garcia, atoll de l'océan Indian, inscrit sur la liste de Ramsar" (in Spanish). Ramsar. 8 October 2001. Archived from the original on 7 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
- ^ Vine 2011, p. 22.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Natural Resources Management Plan (2005), paragraph 2.5.1.
- ^ Natural Resources Management Plan (2005), paragraph 3.3.2.1.
- ^ "Mauritius stakes claim for Chagos". BBC. 30 March 2004. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
- ^ a b Tuckey 1815, pp. 64–65.
- British Admiralty nautical chart11000030 – 3 Chagos Archipelago, Scale 1:360,000
- ^ Evers & Kooy 2011, p. 27.
- ^ Paul 1987, p. 14.
- ^ Dupont 2001, p. 1120.
- ^ Olson & Shadle 1991, p. 90.
- ^ Russell 2012, p. 269.
Bibliography
- Diego Garcia Integrated Natural Resources Management Plan. US Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. September 2005.
- Acton, Q. Ashton (2012). Issues in Global Environment: Freshwater and Marine Environments: 2011 Edition. ScholarlyEditions. ISBN 978-1-4649-6467-1.
- Central Intelligence Agency (2010). The World Factbook. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59797-541-4.
- Dupont, Jerry (1 January 2001). The Common Law Abroad: Constitutional and Legal Legacy of the British Empire. Wm. S. Hein Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8377-3125-4.
- Evers, Sandra; Kooy, Marry (23 May 2011). Eviction from the Chagos Islands: Displacement and Struggle for Identity Against Two World Powers. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-20260-3.
- Green, Richard (2006). The Commonwealth Yearbook 2006. Nexus Strategic Partnerships Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9549629-4-4.
- Haggett, Peter (1 July 2001). Encyclopedia of World Geography. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-7289-6.
- Notholt, Stuart (2008). Fields of Fire: An Atlas of Ethnic Conflict. Troubador Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-906510-47-3.
- Olson, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert (1 January 1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-26257-9.
- Paul, Erik Charles (1987). Fisheries Development and the Food Needs of Mauritius. A.A. Balkema. ISBN 978-90-6191-627-7.
- Russell, Malcolm (1 August 2012). The Middle East and South Asia 2012. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-61048-889-1.
- Tuckey, James Hingston (1815). Maritime Geography and Statistics, Or a Description of the Ocean and Its Coasts, Maritime Commerce, Navigation Etc. in 4 Volumes (Public domain ed.). Black, Parry & Company.
- Vine, David (3 January 2011). Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia (New in Paper). Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-3850-9.