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The entire land area of the islands is a mere 63 km², with the largest island, Diego Garcia, having an area of 44 km². There are five other main island groups: Peros Banhos, the Salomon Islands , the Eagle Islands , the Egmont Islands and the Three Brothers . Isolated islands include Nelsons Island and Danger Island .

The islands were discovered by Vasco da Gama in the early sixteenth century, then claimed in the eighteenth century by France as a possession of Mauritius. The United Kingdom gained possession of both Mauritius and the island in 1814, and retained the islands as part of the British Indian Ocean Territory when Mauritius gained independence. Since 1976, the archipelago has been coterminous with the British Indian Ocean Territory, but it is also claimed by Mauritius and the SeychellesThe Republic of Seychelles ( Creole: Repiblik Sesel is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, some 1,600 km east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar. Other nearby island countries and territories include Mauritius and Reunion to the s.

Although there was no pre-European population, a few hundred people of mostly IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy.n descent known as the IloisIlois (also known as Chagossians are a group of Creole-speaking people, mostly of Indian descent (also notably from Madagascar, Mauritius and Mozambique), which dwelled on the Chagos Archipelago for a certain period of time, most having arrived as fisherm lived on the islands for several hundred years until they were expelled to Mauritius by the British Government between 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio and 1973Events January events January 1 United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the European Economic Community now known as the European Union January 3 Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) sells the New York Yankees for $10 million to a 12-person syndicate led. Currently, the only habitation is a joint US-UK naval support facility on Diego Garcia. Other unhabited islands, especially in the Salomon group, are common stopping points for long-distance sailorsCruising means different things to different cruisers, but all cruising shares the following characteristics: living on the boat, traveling, extended periods of time (more than a week or two). To reduce fuel expense, the most common cruising boat is a sai travelling from Southeast Asia to the Red Sea or the coast of Africa.

The British Government instituted an investigation into relocating the former islanders to some of the uninhabited islands, but concluded that this was impossible due to a lack of fresh water. This is disputed by the former islanders, who point out that rainfall in the archipelago is among the highest in the world.