Chagos Archipelago

The Chagos archipelago is a scattered group of coral atolls in the central Indian Ocean, south of the Maldives. Reefs surround shallow lagoons and low islands where coconut palms grow. The islands had no permanent population for much of their known history. In the late eighteenth century French settlers from Mauritius began establishing coconut estates, bringing enslaved workers from East Africa and Madagascar. The production of coconut oil drew these remote atolls into the plantation economy of the Indian Ocean.