British Indian Ocean Territory

This is not one of the classic vacation regions, because the British territory in the Indian Ocean is uninhabited. Except for a few soldiers who are on duty in a military base on one of the seven atolls, on the island of Diega Garcia. The former inhabitants of the Chagos archipelago were resettled in 1966 and have since been living either in the Seychelles or in Mauritius. Some of them are still fighting in British courts to return to their ancestral homeland. The state of Mauritius lays territorial claims to the entire territory and, as a result, is engaging the United Nations and the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The country points to what it considers to be the illegal rule of the British over this territory in the Indian Ocean.

• Country data British Indian Ocean Territory