Diego Garcia

Diego Garcia
Diego Garcia [dē ā′gō gär sē′ə]
chief island of the Chagos Archipelago, British Indian Ocean Territory: 17 sq mi (44 sq km)

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 coral atoll, largest and southernmost member of the Chagos Archipelago, in the central Indian Ocean, part of the British Indian Ocean Territory. Occupying an area of 17 square miles (44 square km), it consists of a V-shaped, sand-fringed cay about 15 miles (24 km) in length with a maximum width of about 7 miles (11 km); its lagoon is open at the north end.

      Discovered by the Portuguese in the early 16th century, it was for most of its history a dependency of Mauritius. In 1965 it was separated from Mauritius as part of the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory. The production of copra from coconut palms was the only economic activity until the early 1970s, when the last of the plantation workers and their families were removed—mostly to Mauritius, but smaller numbers went to Seychelles and Great Britain. This was done to enable the development of U.S. military facilities established in accordance with a 1966 agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom. Development of this base for air and naval support in the late 1970s and '80s evoked strong opposition from littoral states of the Indian Ocean area, who wished to preserve a nonmilitarized status in the region. Numerous air operations were launched from Diego Garcia during the Persian Gulf War (1990–91), U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan (2001), and the initial phase (2003) of the Iraq War.

      In the late 1990s, islanders from the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, sued for the right to return home, and in 2000 a British court ruled that the 1971 ordinance banning them from the islands was unlawful. U.S. and British officials opposed the plan for resettlement, but in 2006 the court upheld its decision. In 2007 the British government lost its case before the Court of Appeal but announced its intention to challenge that decision in the House of Lords. The following year a majority of the panel of five Law Lords ruled against the islanders, although the government expressed regret for the original removal. There is no permanent population, although some 4,000 U.S. and British military and contract civilian personnel are stationed on the atoll.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Diego García — es una isla de 44 km² atolón situado en el Océano Índico. Es parte del Archipiélago Chagos y un territorio británico de ultramar, parte del Territorio Británico en el Océano Índico. A mediados de los sesenta el gobierno británico expulsó… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Diego Garcia —   [di eɪgəʊ gɑː siə], britische Insel im Indischen Ozean, gehört zu den Chagosinseln, liegt südlich der Malediven, 36 km2 groß, keine Zivilbevölkerung. Diego Garcia gehörte bis 1965 zu Mauritius, seither Teil des British Indian Ocean Territory;… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Diego Garcia — île britannique de l océan Indien (archipel des Chagos), louée en 1974 aux È. U., qui y ont installé une import. base militaire. L île Maurice, dont elle dépendait av. 1965 et qui a accueilli les familles expulsées de Diego, la revendique …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Diego Garcĭa — Diego Garcĭa, Insel südlich von der Maledivengruppe (Asien), Hafen, 8 Meilen im Umfange, mit Cocosbäumen u. Schildkröten, untersucht 1768 …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Diēgo Garcia — Diēgo Garcia, Insel, s. Chagosarchipel …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Diego Garcia — Diēgo Garcīa, größte der Tschagosinseln (s.d.) …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • Diego Garcia — [dē ā′gō gär sē′ə] chief island of the Chagos Archipelago, British Indian Ocean Territory: 17 sq mi (44 sq km) …   English World dictionary

  • Diego Garcia — For other uses, see Diego Garcia (disambiguation). Diego Garcia IATA: NKW – ICAO: FJDG Summary …   Wikipedia

  • Diego Garcia — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Garcia. Diego Garcia Image satelite de Diego Garcia …   Wikipédia en Français

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