31 Facts About Diego Garcia

Diego Garcia is an island of the British Indian Ocean Territory, a disputed overseas territory of the United Kingdom.

The misnomer "Diego Garcia" could have been made unwittingly by the British ever since, as they copied the Portuguese maps.

An island called "Don Diego Garcia" appears on the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of Abraham Ortelius, together with "Dos Compagnos", slightly to the north.

Diego Garcia became a colony of the UK after the Napoleonic Wars as part of the Treaty of Paris, and from 1814 to 1965 it was administered from Mauritius; the main plantations were at East Point, the main settlement, Minni Minni, 4.

In 1942, the British opened RAF Station Diego Garcia and established an advanced flying boat unit at the East Point Plantation, staffed and equipped by No 205 and No 240 Squadrons, then stationed on Ceylon.

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The United States requested an unpopulated island belonging to the UK to avoid political difficulties with newly independent countries, and ultimately the UK and United States agreed that Diego Garcia was a suitable location.

Diego Garcia is often referred to as "Fantasy Island" for its seclusion.

Key component in obtaining Diego Garcia was the perceived lack of a native population on the island.

In March 1971, United States Naval construction battalions arrived on Diego Garcia to begin the construction of the communications station and an airfield.

Diego Garcia had no permanent inhabitants when discovered by the Spanish explorer Diego Garcia de Moguer in the 16th century, then in the service of Portugal, and this remained the case until it was settled as a French colony in 1793.

Between 1971 and 2001, the only residents on Diego Garcia were UK and US military personnel and civilian employees of those countries.

In 2004, US Navy recruitment literature described Diego Garcia as being one of the world's best-kept secrets, boasting great recreational facilities, exquisite natural beauty, and outstanding living conditions.

Diego Garcia is the only inhabited island in the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, usually abbreviated as "BIOT".

Originally colonised by the French, Diego Garcia was ceded, along with the rest of the Chagos Archipelago, to the United Kingdom in the Treaty of Paris at the conclusion of a portion of the Napoleonic Wars.

Diego Garcia said that he had heard from three US intelligence sources that Diego Garcia was used as "a transit site where people were temporarily housed, let us say, and interrogated from time to time" and, "What I heard was more along the lines of using it as a transit location when perhaps other places were full or other places were deemed too dangerous or insecure, or unavailable at the moment".

Diego Garcia was rumoured to have been one of the locations of the CIA's black sites in 2005.

Several groups claim that the military base on Diego Garcia has been used by the United States government for transport of prisoners involved in the controversial extraordinary rendition program, an allegation formally reported to the Council of Europe in June 2007.

Diego Garcia agreed that the UK and United States should carefully negotiate the details of the marine reserve to assure that United States interests were safeguarded and the strategic value of BIOT was upheld.

Diego Garcia said that the BIOT's former inhabitants would find it difficult, if not impossible, to pursue their claim for resettlement on the islands if the entire Chagos Archipelago were a marine reserve.

Additionally, Diego Garcia was used as a storage section for US cluster bombs as a way of avoiding UK parliamentary oversight.

Diego Garcia is the largest land mass in the Chagos Archipelago, being an atoll occupying approximately 174 square kilometres, of which 27.

Diego Garcia is frequently subject to earthquakes caused by tectonic plate movement along the Carlsberg Ridge located just to the west of the island.

On Diego Garcia, this equates to a maximum depth of 20 m However, the actual size and depth of each lens is dependent on the width and shape of the island at that point, the permeability of the aquifer, and the equilibrium between recharging rainfall and losses to evaporation to the atmosphere, transpiration by plants, tidal advection, and human use.

Diego Garcia is at minimum risk from tropical cyclones due to its proximity to the equator where the coriolis parameter required to organise circulation of the upper atmosphere is minimal.

Diego Garcia's research added fully a third more species to Stoddart.

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In 1967, Stoddart described the land area of Diego Garcia as having a littoral hedge of Scaevola taccada, while inland, Cocos nucifera was the most dominant tree, covering most of the island.

All the terrestrial and aquatic fauna of Diego Garcia are protected, with the exception of certain game fish, rats, and cats; hefty fines are levied against violators.

Diego Garcia provides suitable foraging and nesting habitat for both the hawksbill turtle and the green turtle .

Diego Garcia is strategically located, offering access to East Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Diego Garcia was the site of several naval exercises between the United States and Indian navies held between 2001 and 2004.

Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia provides Base Operating Services to tenant commands located on the island.