🌴 Chagos Archipelago

The Chagos Archipelago or Chagos Islands is a group of coral atolls, reefs and submerged banks in the central Indian Ocean, at the southern end of the Chagos–Laccadive Ridge. It lies 1,188 nautical miles (2,200 km) north-east of the island of Mauritius and, at its closest point, 269 nautical miles (500 km) south of the Maldives. Five atolls carry islands: Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, the Salomon Islands, the Egmont Islands and the Great Chagos Bank, described as the world's largest atoll by area; the others are reefs and banks, most of them submerged. The 55 to 59 islands are small and low, with a total land area of about 53 km2 (20 sq mi), more than half of it on Diego Garcia, while the archipelago's 200-nautical-mile zone covers some 640,000 km2 (247,000 sq mi).