red a part of the South Indian kingdoms.[citation needed] The island may have been visited during the Austronesian diaspora around 700 C.E., and some say the old Maldivian name for the islands was of Malagasy origin. It is also suggested that the Arabs who reached the Laccadive and Maldive island in around 900 C.E. may have visited the Chagos, and that Cheng Ho may have sailed close in 1413-1415 A.D. However, there is no evidence to date of any of these suppositions.[16] Portuguese explorers may have been the first Europeans to discover the island of Diego Garcia. The Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas (1470–June 23, 1555) may have discovered the island during his voyage of 1512–13, but there is little corroborative evidence for this; cartographic analysis points to 1532 or later. Tradition suggests that the island took its name from the same Diego García de Moguer who sailed to the Río de la Plata in 1526, and possibly with Hernando de Soto's voyage.[citation needed] García headed a Portuguese expedition in the Indian ocean in 1554 and died before completing the return travel.[citation needed] Some Portuguese scholars believe that the Christian name "Diego" of the island's discoverer was a misnomer or a misreading which came into use towards the end of the sixteenth century.[citation needed] Although the Cantino Planisphere (1504) and the Ruysch map (1507) clearly delineate the Maldives, giving them the same names, they show no islands to the south which can be identified as the Chagos archipelago. A Diego Garcian photographed by a U.S. National Geodetic Survey team in 1969. The gentleman in the photo was known to all by the nickname "Samson" and boasted he could complete his weekly quota of coconut husking in three days. The Sebastian Cabot map (Antwerp 1544) shows a number of islands to the south which may be the Mascarene group. The first map which identifies and names 'Los Chagos' (in about the right position) is that of Pierre Descelier (Dieppe 1550), although Diego Garcia is not named. An island called 'Don Garcia' appears on the Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis of Abraham Ortelius (Antwerp 1564), together with 'Dos Compagnos', slightly to the north. It may be the case that 'Don Garcia' was named after Garcia de Noronha, although there no evidence exists to support this supposition.[citation needed] The island is also shown as 'Don Garcia' on Mercator's Nova et Aucta Orbis Terrae Description (Duisburg 1569). However, on the Vera Totius Expeditionis Nauticae Description of Jodocus Hondius (London 1589), 'Don Garcia' mysteriously changes its name to 'I. de Dio Gratia', while the 'I. de Chagues' appears close by. The first map to delineate the island under its present name, Diego Garcia, is the World Map of Edward Wright (London 1599), possibly as a result of misreading Dio (or simply 'D.') as Diego, and Gratia as Garcia. The Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica of Henricus Hondius (Antwerp 1630) repeats Wright's misreading of the name, which is then proliferated on all subsequent Dutch maps of the period, and to the present day. Diego Garcia and the rest of the Chagos islands were uninhabited until the late 18th century. In 1778 the French Governor of Mauritius granted Monsieur Dupuit de la Faye the island of Diego Garcia, and there is evidence of temporary French visits to collect coconuts and fish.[17] Several Frenchmen living in "a dozen huts" abandoned Diego Garcia when the British East India Company attempted to establish a settlement there in April 1786.[17] The supplies of the 275 settlers were overwhelmed by 250 survivors of the wreck of the British East Indian Ship ATLAS in May, and the colony failed in October.[18] Following the departure of the English, the French colony of Mauritius began marooning lepers on Diego Garcia,[19] and in 1793 the French established a coconut plantation using slave labour, which also exported cordage made from coconut fiber, and sea cucumbers, known as a delicacy in the orient.[20] Diego Garcia became a colony of the United Kingdom after the Napoleonic wars, and from 1814–1965 it was administered from Mauritius.[21] On Diego Garcia, the main plantations were located at East Point, the main settlement on the eastern rim of the atoll; Minni Minni, 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) north of East Point; and Pointe Marianne, on the western rim, all located on the lagoon side of the atoll rim. The workers lived at these locations, and at villages scattered around the island. From 1881 through 1888, Diego Garcia was the location of two coaling stations for steam ships crossing the Indian Ocean.[22] In 1882, the French-financed, Mauritian-based Societe Huilere de Diego et Peros (the "Oil Can Company of Diego and Peros"), consolidated all the plantations in the Chagos under its control.[23] In 1914, the island was visited by the German light cruiser SMS EMDEN half-way through its historic commerce raiding cruise during the first months of World War I.[24] Barachois Maurice, Diego Garcia. In 1942, the British established an Advanced Flying Boat base at the East Point Plantation, staffed and equipped from the 205 and 240 Squadrons, then stationed on Ceylon. Both Catalina and Sunderlands were flown during the course of World War II in search of Japanese and German submarines and surface raiders. Following the conclusion of hostilities, the base was closed on 30 April 1946.[25] In 1962, the Chagos Agalega Company of the British colony of the Seychelles purchased the Societe Huiliere de Diego et Peros and moved company headquarters to the Seychelles.[26] In the early 1960s, the U.K. was withdrawing its military presence from the Indian Ocean area, and agreed to permit the U.S. to establish a Naval Communication Station on one of its island territories there. The U.S. requested an unpopulated island belonging to the U.K. to avoid political difficulties with newly-independent countries, and ultimately the U.K. and U.S. agreed that Diego Garcia was a suitable location.[27] To accomplish the U.K./U.S. mutual defense strategy, in November 1965, the U.K. purchased the Chagos Archipelago, which includes Diego Garcia, from the then self-governing colony of Mauritius for £3 millions to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), with the intent of ultimately closing the plantations to provide the uninhabited British territory from which the U.S. would conduct its military activities in the region.[27] On 30 December 1966, the U.S. and the U.K. executed an Agreement through an Exchange of Notes which permit the U.S. to use the BIOT for defense purposes for 50 years (through December 2016), followed by a 20 year optional extension (to 2036) to which both parties must agree by December 2014.[28] No monetary payment was made from the U.S. to the U.K. as part of this agreement, or any subsequent amendment, and the commonly used term "lease" to describe the U.S. use of Diego Garcia is not exactly correct. It is, rather, an approved occupation authorized through a sequence of diplomatic notes and agreements. However, in a now-declassified addendum to the 1966 agreement, the United Kingdom received a US$14M discount from the U.S. on the acquisition of submarine launched ballistic missile system Polaris missiles.[29] In April 1966 the British Government bought the entire assets of the Chagos Agalega Company in the BIOT for £600,000 and administered them as a government enterprise while awaiting U.S. funding of the proposed facilities, with an interim objective of paying for the administrative expenses of the new territory.[26] However, the plantations, both under their previous private ownership and under government administration, proved consistently unprofitable due to the introduction of new oils and lubricants in the international marketplace, and the establishment of vast coconut plantations in the East Indies and the Philippines.[30] In March 1971, U.S. Naval construction battalions (SEABEES) arrived on Diego Garcia to begin the construction of the Communications Station and an airfield.[31] To satisfy the terms of an agreement between the U.K. and the U.S. for an uninhabited island, the plantation on Diego Garcia was closed in October of that year.[32] The plantation workers and their families, some of whom had been on Diego Garcia for generations, were relocated to the plantations on Peros Bahnos and Solomon atolls to the northwest; those who requested were transported to the Seychelles or Mauritius.[33] In 1972, the U.K. decided to close the plantations throughout the Chagos, including those on Peros Banhos and the Salomon Islands, and deported the Ilois to their ancestral homes on either the Seychelles or Mauritius.[33] The then-independent Mauritian government refused to accept the islanders without payment, and in 1973, the U.K. gave the Mauritian government an additional £650,000 to resettle the islanders.[34] By 1973, construction of the Naval Communications Station (NAVCOMMSTA) was completed.[35] In the early 1970s, setbacks to U.S. military capabilities in the region including the fall of Saigon, victory of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos, the closure of the Peshawar Air Station listening post in Pakistan and Kagnew Station in Ethiopia, the Mayaguez Incident, and the build up of Soviet Naval presence in Aden and a Soviet Air Base at Berbera, Somalia, caused the U.S. to request, and the U.K. to approve, permission to build a fleet anchorage and enlarged airfield on Diego Garcia,[36] and the SEABEES doubled the number of workers construction these facilities.[37] Following the fall of the Shah of Iran and the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979-1980, the West became concerned with ensuring the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf through the Straight of Hormuz, and the U.S. received permission for a $400 millions expansion of the military facilities on Diego Garcia consisting of two parallel 12000-foot-long (0 m) runways, expansive parking aprons for heavy bombers, twenty new anchorages in the lagoon, a deep water pier, port facilities for the largest naval vessels in the U.S. or British fleet, aircraft hangars, maintenance buildings and an air terminal, a 1,340,000 barrel fuel storage area, and billeting and messing facilities for thousands of sailors and support personnel.[38] On 1 October 1977, Naval Support Facility, Diego Garcia, was established at the senior U.S. Navy command on the island. At the time the NAVCOMMSTA was the primary tenant, but as the new major facilities were completed, most notably the expanded anchorage and mooring area and the extended airfield, other tenants were commissioned.[39] In 1980, the U.S. Navy established the Near-Term Prepositioned Force of 16 ships. Then NTPF became the Afloat Prepositioning Force (AFP) and eventually Composite Squadron Two (COMPSRON 2) consisting of 20 deep-water pre-positioned logistics ships anchored in the lagoon.[40] In 1981, the Naval Air Facility was commissioned. It was decommissioned in 1987 and its responsibilities returned to the NSF.[39] In 1982, Construction activities were transferred from the SEABEES to a consortium of civilian contractors, and the majority of the projects were completed by 1988.[36] On 26 March 1982, Barbara Shuping and five other women were assigned to the NSF. Prior to this assignment, no women had lived on island since those on the plantation in 1971.[41] In 1985, the new port facilities were completed, and the USS SARATOGA (CV-60) was the first aircraft carrier to tie up.[42] The Strategic Air Command began deploying B-52 bombers and aerial refueling aircraft to the newly completed airfield facilities in 1987.[43] Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, three ships of COMPSRON 2 sortied, delivering a Marine Expeditionary Brigade to defend the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Other COMPSRON 2 ships offloaded the munitions, bombs, and fuel on Diego Garcia that were required for the U.S. bomber fleet that deployed to airfield. Subsequently, B-52G bombers flew more than 200 17-hour bombing missions over 44 days and dropped more than 800,000 tons (727,300,000 kilograms [kg]) of bombs on Iraqi forces in Iraq and Kuwait. One of the B-52s crashed from mechanical failures just north of the island with the loss of three of its six-man crew.[43] Beginning on 7 Oct 2001, the U.S. again commenced military operations from Diego Garcia using B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers to attack enemy targets in Afghanistan following the attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. A B-1 bomber was lost on 12 Dec 2001 to mechanical failures just after take off from the island, but the crew survived and was rescued by the USS RUSSELL (DDG-59).[44] Combat operations resumed in the spring of 2003, with MPSRON TWO sortieing to the Persian Gulf for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and bombing operations began again, this time against Iraq.[45] Bomber operations ceased from Diego Garcia on 15 Aug 2006.[46] In 2004, the U.K. applied for, and received, Ramsar Site status for the lagoon and other waters of Diego Garcia.[47] On 1 April 2010, the U.K. Cabinet declared the Chagos Archipelago a Marine Protected Area and prohibited all extractive industry including fishing and oil and gas exploration. It is unclear whether Diego Garcia is included in the MPA.[48] Inhabitants Throughout the recorded history of the plantations of the Chagos Archipelago, there existed a population of approximately one thousand individuals, with about two-thirds resident on Diego Garcia. A peak population of 1,142 on all islands was recorded in 1953.[49] Those workers born in the Chagos were referred to as Ilois, a French Creole word meaning "Islanders" until the late 1990s, when they adopted the name Chagossians or Chagos Islanders. The Chagossians are descended from slaves brought to the island by the French from Madagascar,[12] Malay slaves from the island of Pulo Nyas off the northwest coast of Sumatra imported between 1820–1840,[12] Mauritian, Seychellois, Chinese, Somali, and Indian workers employed on the island at various times in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, as well as Plantation managers and administrators, and British and Indian garrison troops stationed on the island in World War II.[citation needed] The total population of the atoll was removed by 1971 to facilitate the establishment of the military base. No current agreement exists on how many of the evacuees met the criteria to be an Ilois, and thus be an indigenous person at the time of their removal, but the U.K. and Mauritian governments agreed in 1972 that 426 families,[50] numbering 1,151 individuals[34] were due compensation payments as exiled Ilois. The total number of people certified as Ilois by the Mauritian Government's Ilois Trust Fund Board in 1982 was 1,579.[51] Between 1971 and 2001, the only residents on Diego Garcia were U.K. and U.S. military personnel and civilian employees of those countries. These included contract employees from the Philippines and Mauritius, including some Ilois.[52] During the combat operations from the atoll against Afghanistan (2001–2006) and Iraq (2003–2006) a number of allied militaries were based on the island including Australian,[53] Japanese and the Republic of Korea.[54] The inhabitants today do not rely on the island and the surrounding waters for sustenance. Although some recreational fishing for consumption is permitted, all other food is shipped in by sea or air.[55] Politics Detailed map of Diego Garcia. Diego Garcia is the largest and only inhabited island in the British Indian Ocean Territory, usually abbreviated as “BIOT”. It is an Overseas territory of the United Kingdom, and the Government of the BIOT consists of Commissioner appointed by the Queen. The Commissioner is assisted by an Administrator and small staff, and is based in London and resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. This administration is represented in the Territory by the Officer commanding British Forces on Diego Garcia, the "Brit Rep". Laws and regulations are promulgated by the Commissioner and enforced in the BIOT by Brit Rep. There are no civilian residents or adminstrators, and the U.K. represents the Territory internationally. A local government as normally envisioned does not exist.[56] Of major concern to the BIOT Government is the relationship with the U.S. military forces resident on Diego Garcia. An annual meeting called “The Pol-Mil Talks” (for Political-Military) of all concerned is held at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London to resolve pertinent issues. These resolutions are formalized by an “Exchange of Notes”, or, since 2001, an “Exchange of Letters”.[32] There are two transnational political issues which affect Diego Garcia and the BIOT, through the British government. First, the island nation of Mauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago (which is co-terminus with the BIOT), including Diego Garcia. A subsidiary issue is the Mauritian opposition to the 1 Apr 10 U.K. Government’s declaration that the BIOT is a Marine Protected Area with fishing and extractive industry (including oil and gas exploration) prohibited.[57] Second, the issue of compensation and repatriation of the former inhabitants, exiled since 1973, continues in litigation and as of this writing (23 Aug 2010) has been submitted to the European Court of Human Rights by a group of former residents.[58] As these issues affect the BIOT as a whole, not just the island of Diego Garcia, they are more appropriately and completely addressed in the Wikipedia articles British Indian Ocean Territory and Depopulation of Diego Garcia. Two other issues concern the U.S. base on Diego Garcia - the allegation that a prison camp for Islamic terrorists exists either on the atoll itself, or in U.S. ships anchored in the lagoon, and the extent of Extraordinary Rendition Flights through the U.S. airfield on the atoll. Prison Site Allegations: In Jun 2004, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw stated that U.S. authorities had repeatedly assured him that no detainees had passed in transit through Diego Garcia or were disembarked there.[59] In October 2007 the all-party Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament announced that it would launch an investigation of continued allegations of a prison camp on Diego Garcia, which it claimed were twice confirmed by comments made by Retired U.S. Army General Barry McCaffrey.[60] On July 31, 2008, an unnamed former White House official alleged that the U.S. had imprisoned and interrogated at least one suspect on Diego Garcia during 2002 and possibly 2003.[61] Manfred Nowak, one of five of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture, says that credible evidence exists supporting allegations about the use of Diego Garcia as a prison black site for alleged terrorists.[citation needed] The human rights group Reprieve, alleges that US-operated ships moored outside the territorial waters of Diego Garcia were used to incarcerate and torture detainees.[62] Rendition Flight Refueling Admission: Several groups claim that the military base on Diego Garcia has been used by the U.S. government for transport of prisoners involved in the controversial extraordinary rendition program, an allegation formally reported to the Council of Europe in June 2007.[63] On February 21, 2008, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted that two US extraordinary rendition flights refueled on Diego Garcia in 2002. No reference was made to whether prisoners were on board the aircraft at the time.[64] Geography Location map of Diego Garcia. The island consists of the largest continuous atoll in the world. The dryland rim varies in width from a few hundred meters to 2.4 km. Typical of coral atolls, it has a maximum elevation on some dunes on the ocean side of the rim of just nine meters (30 feet) above mean low water. The rim nearly encloses a lagoon about 19 kilometres (12 mi) long a