Diego Garcia & Chagos Islands

• 07 Apr 2025

Source: TOI 

The US has deployed six B-2 stealth bombers to Diego Garcia amid rising tensions with Iran.  

• Located in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia is the only major US base in the region, enabling strategic power projection across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. 

Chagos Archipelago and Diego Garcia 

• Chagos Archipelago: 
  • Location: It is situated 500 km south of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, and consists of 58 islands.  
  • History: It was inhabited in the late 18th century when the French brought enslaved African and Indian laborers to work on coconut plantations.  
    • Under the 1814 Treaty of Paris, France ceded the Chagos Archipelago, along with Mauritius, to Britain, marking the beginning of British control over the region.  
    • In 1965, Britain detached the Chagos Islands from Mauritius to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), compensating Mauritius with a 3 million-pound grant.  
      • Creole-speaking Chagossians were the original inhabitants who were forcibly displaced in the 1960s–70s to set up a US military base on Diego Garcia. 
    • Despite Mauritius gaining independence in 1968, the Chagos Archipelago remained under British control. 
• Diego Garcia: 
  • It is coral atoll and the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, located 7o south of the equator. It was leased to the US and UK in 1967 and became a military base in 1986.  
  • In 2024, the UK agreed to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while retaining control of the military base on Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease. 
    • This followed the 2019  International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling supporting Mauritius’ sovereignty claims.  
  • It played a significant role in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and post-9/11 operations- highlighting the Indo-Pacific’s strategic importance. 

Read More: Chagos Archipelago and Diego Garcia Island