BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY

colony of the United Kingdom in the central Indian Ocean, established Nov. 8, 1965, by the amalgamation of the Aldabra Islands and the Farquhar and Desroches islands (all purchased from the Seychelles) with the Chagos Archipelago (formerly a dependency of Mauritius). On June 28/29, 1976, the islands purchased from the Seychelles were returned to the newly independent Republic of Seychelles. After that date the colony comprised only the islands of the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia (area 17 square miles [44 square km]). Administrative headquarters were at Victoria, Seychelles, during 196576, and after 1976 they were at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London. The colony was created to allow the establishment of defense and communications facilities in the Indian Ocean by the governments of Britain and the United States in order to counterbalance the Soviet military presence in that ocean. To that end, a major British-U.S. defense facility was built on Diego Garcia, the southernmost island of the Chagos Archipelago, and the island's transient population was relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles. Expansion of these facilities during the late 1970s and '80s was opposed by neighbouring states, who viewed the base as compromising the nonmilitarized status of the Indian Ocean region. Although there is no permanent civilian population, about 3,500 U.S. and British military and contract civilian personnel were stationed there in the mid-1990s. See also Aldabra Islands; Chagos Archipelago; Diego Garcia.