British Indian Ocean Territory

White wavy lines are superimposed on this flag's plain blue field to represent the Indian Ocean. A palm tree in the fly symbolizes the lush vegetation of the islands, and a crown recalls the British monarchy.

British colony in the Indian Ocean directly administered by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, consisting of the Chagos Archipelago some 1,900 km/1,200 mi northeast of Mauritius; area 60 sq km/23 sq mi. Copra, salted fish, and tortoiseshell are produced. There is a US naval and air base on Diego Garcia. In 2000 a number of Ilois, British subjects who had lived on the Chagos islands, claimed that the British government had unlawfully removed them from the islands during the period 1967-73 to allow the US military base to be built. The High Court ruled that they had been unlawfully ejected, and the remaining Ilois, many in exile in Mauritius, began planning to return to the islands.

The UK purchased the territory from Mauritius in 1965 for US $3 million, to provide a joint US/UK base. The islands of Aldabra, Farquhar, and Desroches, some 485 km/300 mi north of Madagascar, originally formed part of the British Indian Ocean Territory but were returned to the administration of the Seychelles in 1976.