Blue seas and blue skies, sand and trees, abundant products, diverse creatures, plus warm seasons, the Maldives has all the elements to become a "paradise", and more than 600 kilometers south of the Maldives there is a completely comparable tropical island, even more tranquil and peaceful, pure and original charming scenery, it is the British overseas territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean - Chagos Islands. The most well-known is the island of Diego Garcia, which houses the only U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean.
Located more than 600 kilometers south of the Maldives, the Chagos Archipelago is world-famous for the U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia.
Comparable to the tropical coral archipelago of the Maldives
Located in the southern Maldives, between the east coast of Africa and Indonesia, in the central waters of the Indian Ocean at 5°-8° south latitude and 71°-73° east longitude, the Chagos Archipelago is a tropical coral archipelago encompassing 2300 large and small islands and reefs such as islands, reefs and sands, consisting of 5 large island groups and other small islands: the southernmost Island of Diego Garcia, the central Chagos Great Atoll, the southwestern Egmont Islands, the northeast Spec Atoll and the northwestern Perus Banus Atoll. The Chagos Archipelago has a total area of more than 15,000 square kilometers, but the total land area is only 63.17 square kilometers.
The Chagos Archipelago, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is known as the "heart of the Indian Ocean".
The Chagos Archipelago is a tropical coral archipelago covering 2,300 large and small islands and reefs such as islands, reefs and sands.
The Chagos Archipelago has a tropical oceanic climate, hot and humid, but the absolute maximum temperature rarely exceeds 32 °C, with an average annual rainfall of up to 2600 mm, of which the largest precipitation from October to February August is the driest month, averaging 100 mm per month. The island, which is exposed to the sea all year round, is full of cocoa, palm, coconut and other trees. Due to historical reasons, at present, the Chagos Archipelago, only Diego Garcia Island is inhabited, and the rest of the islands are uninhabited, just like a "Maldives" away from the hustle and bustle.
The chagos archipelago is full of cocoa, palm, coconut and other trees all year round.
At present, the Chagos Archipelago, only Diego Garcia Island is inhabited, and the rest of the islands are uninhabited, like a "Maldives" away from the hustle and bustle.
As a tropical coral archipelago, the Chagos Archipelago is beautiful, the blue sky is set off by white clouds, the coral reefs scattered in the deep ocean are covered with lush coconut and palm trees, and the blue-green lagoon water, sparkling, forms a wonderful and spectacular scenery, green jungle accompanied by white sand, and the landscape of water and sky is beautiful. If you look at it from the air, it looks like many emerald green beads are embedded in the turquoise ocean. The verdant atoll winds and stretches, and under the sunlight, the lagoon glitters, and the green ripples are calmly projected into the eyes and engraved in the heart.
The Chagos Archipelago has a large number of islands and reefs, mainly consisting of 5 larger island groups and other small islands.
The five major island groups of the Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos Archipelago has many islands and reefs, of which the Great Atoll of Chagos in the middle is one of the largest atolls in the world, located at latitude 6° 10′ south and longitude 72 ° 00′ east, with a total area of 12,642 square kilometers, but most of the reefs will be submerged at high tide. Chagos Atoll has 7 islands that are exposed to the sea all year round, namely Eagle Island (Eagle Island), Manatee Island, Dange Island (i.e. Danger Island Danger), Nelson Island and the South Island of the Three Brothers Archipelago, Middle Island (Dimillo Island) and North Island, with a total area of about 4.5 square kilometers.
Chagos Isle is one of the largest in the world, with a total area of 12,642 square kilometers, but most of the reef disk is submerged at high tide.
Eagle Island (Eagle Island) and Manatee Island in Chagos Great Atoll
Eagle Island is located at 6°11′30"S, 71°19′38"E, on the western edge of Chagos Atoll and on the mid-western edge, with a land area of 2.45 square kilometers;
Manatee Island is located at 6°14′10"S, 71°17′40"E, 3.4 km southwest of Eagle Island, with a land area of 0.18 km2;
Dange Island in chagos atoll, with a maximum altitude of 12 meters
Dange Island is located at 6°23′00"S, 71°14′20"E, 2 km long from north to south, 400 m wide, with a land area of 0.66 km2 and a maximum altitude of 12 m;
Nelson Island is located at 5°40′53"S and 72°18′39" E. It is 2 km long from east to west, 1 km wide, has a land area of 0.81 km2, and has a maximum altitude of 3 meters.
Three brothers archipelago in Chagos Atoll
The North Island in the Three Brothers Archipelago
Nakajima, one of the three brotherly archipelagos
The Three Brothers Islands are located at latitude 6°9' south and longitude 71°31′ east, with a total land area of 0.37 square kilometers, of which 0.23 square kilometers are South Island, 0.08 square kilometers are Middle Island, and 0.06 square kilometers are North Island. The islands are covered with vegetation, palm trees, coconut palms and have been designated as nature reserves since 1998.
Coconut crabs in the Three Brothers Archipelago prey on rats
Solomon Islands in the Chagos Archipelago
The coast of Foucay Island in the Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands (i.e. Solomon Atoll) are located at latitude 5°19′00"S, longitude 72°15′36"E, between Blenheim Reef and Perus Banius Island in the northeast of the Chagos Archipelago. Solomon Atoll has an area of 36 km2 and a land area of about 3.5 km2 and consists of 11 islands: Bodham Island (1.08 km2) on the western edge of the reef, Noble Lady Island (0.82 km2), Fokai Island (0.45 km2) and Takamaka Island (0.48 km2) in the southeast, Paz Island in the east (0.28 km2), mapo Island (0.04 km2).
The coast of Takamaka in the Solomon Islands
Blenheim Reef in the Chagos Archipelago
Blenheim Reef Blendheim Reef is located at latitude 05°12′ N, longitude 72°28′ E, about 20 km northeast of Solomon Atoll. It is 11 km long from north to south and more than 4 km wide from east to west, with a total area of 36.8 square kilometers, of which 8.5 square kilometers are lagoons. There are four small islands, east island, south island, west island and north island, the largest is the east island (that is, Blenheim Reef), less than 200 meters long, 70 meters wide, land area of 0.3 square kilometers, only a few grasses grow on the island, full of guano accumulation of phosphate mines. It is named after the East India Company's "Blenheim" ship that crashed here in 1799.
Perus-Banius Atoll in the Chagos Archipelago, satellite image
Map of the distribution of the islands in Perus-Banius Atoll
Small shell island in Perus-Banius Atoll
Perus Banius Atoll, located at latitude 5°20′ S, longitude 71°51′ E, on the west side of Solomon Atoll, has a total area of 503 km2, a land area of 13 km2 and a lagoon of 490 km². It consists of about 32 small islands, of which Pierre Island has an area of 1.50 square kilometers, Coine Island has an area of 1.28 square kilometers, and Yeye Island has an area of 0.60 square kilometers. Coyne Island has coconut plantations and is the main port of the atoll. The northern island of St. Brandon, formerly covered with coconut palms, is now just a sandbar. The western island of Welt is densely covered with vegetation. Original coconut plantations on Manoel Island, Pierre Island, Morseby Island and Foquet Island.
Egmont in the Chagos Archipelago
Long Beach on the island of Rubine in the Egmont Archipelago.
The Egmont Archipelago is located at 6°40′ S and 71°21′ E, with a total area of 29 km2, including lagoons and marginal coral reefs, with a total land area of about 4 km2, and consists of 6 islands, namely East Egmont, Takamaka, Karpad, Lubine, Cipaye and Rattle. Among them, Egmont Island is the largest, about 1.5 square kilometers, and all the islands are also covered with trees such as coconut palms.
Diego Garcia, the main island of the Chagos Archipelago.
Diego Garcia is the southernmost coral atoll of the Chagos Archipelago, 65 km long and with an average width of 0.5 km, with a total area of 174 square kilometres
Located at 7°20′ S and 72°25′ E, Diego Garcia Island is the southernmost coral atoll in the Chagos Archipelago, with a length of 65 km and an average width of 0.5 km, a total area of 174 km² and a land area of 27.2 km², and a central V-shaped lagoon 24 km long, 6.4 km wide, an area of 124 km², a water depth of 10 to 20 m, and is open to the north. The low-lying island of Diego Garcia, less than 1.8 metres above sea level, submerged at high tide, is overgrown with coconut and palm trees, has a population of about 4,500 people, and is mainly engaged in military facilities and fishing, coconut gathering, turtle shells and salt making.
In 1966, Britain and the United States signed an agreement in which the United States leased Diego Garcia Island to Britain, which immediately became an important naval and air base for the United States in the Indian Ocean.
During the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991, the 2001 War in Afghanistan and the 2003 War in Iraq, U.S. forces launched air operations from Diego Garcia.
In addition to the above five major atolls and islands, the Chagos Archipelago also has ten shoals. The so-called shoals are coral atolls that are completely submerged in the water, namely Pitt Shoal, White Shoal, Ganges Shoal, Centurion Shoal, Owen Shoal, Covent Shoal, Victory Shoal, Bernares Shoal, Spec Shoal and CorvoCortse Shoal. The largest shoal is Pitt Shoal, located at 7°4′ S and 72°31′ E, with a total area of 1317 square kilometers, the deepest lagoon reaching 44 meters, and the smallest is White Shoal, which is only 3 square kilometers and the deepest is 8.5 meters.
The top ten shoals of the Chagos Archipelago are Pitt Shoal and Covent Shoal.
The top ten shoals of the Chagos Archipelago are Spike Shoal and Corvocort Shoal
The earliest shoals discovered were the Benares Shoal, discovered in 1837, 6 km northwest of Pierre Island in the middle of Perus Banius Atoll. It is about 3 km long from east to west, about 700 m wide, has an area of 2 km2, and has a maximum depth of 4.5 m. The latest to be discovered is the Shoal of Corvo Cortese, 28 km northeast of Blenheim Atoll, 8 km long from north to south, 1-2 km wide, with an area of about 10 square kilometers and a depth of about 9 meters, which was discovered in 1973 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Resources Satellite.
Diego Garcia Island, located in the center of the Indian Ocean, guards the key point of the Indian Ocean and is known as the "crossroads of the Indian Ocean"
The Chagos Archipelago is strategically located at the meeting point of many shipping routes between the Cape of Good Hope, Singapore, the Red Sea and Australia.
Crossroads in the Indian Ocean
The Chagos Archipelago is geographically located, not only in the center of the Indian Ocean, guarding the key point of the Indian Ocean, known as the "crossroads of the Indian Ocean", and just far away from the movement path of tropical storms (that is, typhoons) in the Indian Ocean, so that the US military base here can control the Bay of Bengal, the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Strait in the east, control the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which are mainly oil-producing, and profoundly affect the commercial and trade routes between China, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia and West Asia, and Africa. Of course, the "nail" of Diego Garcia Island will be explained in detail in the next issue.
The sunset in the Solomon Islands in the Chagos Archipelago is like the Empire where the sun never sets.
This is the Chagos Archipelago, an island deep in the ocean that is barely found on the world map, a coral archipelago that rivals the tropical scenery of the Maldives. It may not be remarkable, but it plays a non-negligible role in the geostrategic game of the Indian Ocean.
Review of the previous issue: Why is san Pedro-St. Paul reef, which guards the nearest shipping lane between West Africa and South America, like a chicken rib?
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