Great Chagos Coast

The Great Chagos Bank lies in the Indian Ocean south of the Maldives, a vast coral structure whose reefs enclose an immense lagoon. It forms part of the Chagos Archipelago, known to Portuguese sailors in the sixteenth century. In 1556 the ship Conceição was wrecked on reefs at nearby Peros Banhos, leaving an early account of the islands and their hazards. French settlement followed in the late eighteenth century, and the archipelago passed to Britain with Mauritius in 1814.