British Indian Ocean Territory Map | HD Political Map of British Indian Ocean Territory

Located in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is a territory administered by the United Kingdom. Over 1,000 different islands, many of which are very small, make up the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago, which make up a total of 60 square kilometers of land. Diego Garcia, measuring 27 square kilometers, is the largest and most southerly of all the islands. It is home to a joint military facility run by the US and the UK.

Diego Garcia's capital is Camp Thunder Cove. A place unlike any other for scientific research, BIOT is an almost completely unexplored "ocean observatory" that is accessible to researchers from all over the world. It also serves as a trial site for novel environmental management strategies that have implications for other protected areas all over the world.

History:

The islands were given to Britain along with Mauritius, which at the time also included Seychelles, in 1814, becoming British territory. The administration of the islands was carried out from Mauritius for administrative convenience and under French customs. When Seychelles gained its independence in 1976, some of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the new nation. This left the 2,300 islands that make up the Chagos Archipelago's six main island groups.

Culture:

According to the British Indian Ocean Territory (Constitution) Order 2004, "no person has the right of abode" in the territory because it was "created and is set aside to be available for the defense purposes of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the United States of America," and as a result, "no person is allowed to enter or be present in the Territory except the authorized ones. Information on the demographics of the territory is scarce because there is no permanent population or census; the population's size is determined by the territory's need for offensive capabilities.

Language:

The official language is English. Before being forcibly evicted from the islands by the British in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the original inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago (now British Indian Ocean Territory) were said to speak Chagossian Creole (Ilois), which is reportedly a dialect of Seychelles French Creole.

Geography:

The weather in British Indian Ocean Territory is oppressively hot, windy, and cloudy. The average annual temperature ranges from 76 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit, with 74 and 91 degrees Fahrenheit being extremely rare. The territory is made up of an archipelago of 55 islands, with Diego Garcia, the only inhabited island and the largest island, making up nearly half of the territory's total land area (60 square kilometers [23 square miles]). The terrain is level and low, with the majority of the land being less than two meters (6 feet 7 inches) above sea level. A marine reserve was established around the islands in 2010 and covers an area of 545,000 square kilometers (210,000 square miles).

FAQs

Q1: What is the official language of The British Indian Ocean Territory?

English is the official language of The British Indian Ocean Territory.

Q2: What is the capital of The British Indian Ocean Territory?

Camp Thunder Cove is the capital of The British Indian Ocean Territory.

Q3: What is the currency of The British Indian Ocean Territory?

United States Dollar is the currency of The British Indian Ocean Territory.