The Chagossians (also Îlois [4] or Chagos Islanders) are an Afro-Asian ethnic group originating from freed African slaves brought to the Chagos Islands, specifically Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, and the Salomon island chain, in the late 18th century as well as people of Asian (Indian and Malay) descent. [5]

The Chagos Archipelago was uninhabited when first visited by European explorers, and remained that way until the French established a small colony on the island of Diego Garcia, composed of 50–60 men and "a complement of slaves".

Oct 4, 2024 · After a dispute running for more than 50 years, the United Kingdom will finally hand back the Chagos Islands, an archipelago located in the Indian Ocean, to the southeast African island country...

Feb 15, 2023 · About 60 years ago, the United Kingdom government secretly planned, with the United States, to force an entire Indigenous people, the Chagossians, from their homes in the Chagos Archipelago....

Oct 8, 2024 · LONDON (AP) — Islanders who were forced to leave their remote Indian Ocean home to make way for a U.S. military base half a century ago protested outside the U.K. Parliament on Monday against a deal they say has decided their homeland’s fate without them.

The Chagos Archipelago (/ ˈ tʃ ɑː ɡ ə s,-ɡ oʊ s /) or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, [2] and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archipelago.

The people, known as Chagossians, were left in impoverished exile on the western Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and the Seychelles. In a setting of idyllic white sand beaches and fertile green vegetation, the ancestors of today’s Chagossians built a society that by the 20 th century included numerous villages complete with hospitals, roads ...

Oct 3, 2024 · People from the Chagos Islands have been voicing their concerns over news the UK is giving up sovereignty and handing over the land to Mauritius. The joint statement made by the UK and...

The Chagossians are an exiled people from the Chagos Archipelago and their descendants. The Chagos islands were depopulated and all Chagossians forcibly removed by the United Kingdom between 1968 and 1973, to make way for a US military airbase …

Nov 27, 2023 · The history of the Chagos Islands encompasses colonisation, geopolitical conflict and human tragedy. The struggle between colonial powers – Britain and Mauritius – continues to overshadow people’s right to return to their ancestral lands.