Everything you need to know about British Indian Ocean Territory

What is British Indian Ocean Territory? How is the British Indian Ocean Territory map? What is the population of British Indian Ocean Territory? Who owns Diego Garcia? How to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory? Is it possible to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory? British Indian Ocean Territory is an area that belongs to the United Kingdom and is located in the Indian Ocean. British Indian Ocean Territory consisted of just six major island groups, the Chagos Archipelago. Just Diego Garcia British Indian Ocean territory, the largest and southern part island, is populated. It involves a combined United Kingdom-US naval support center. British Indian Ocean Territory controlled from London.

History of British Indian Ocean Territory

What is British Indian Ocean Territory? Founded as a UK territory in 1965, when it gained independence in 1976, many British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands transferred to Seychelles, leaving only the six major island groups of 2,300 islands forming the Chagos Archipelago. Between 1967 and 1973, about 3,000 former farmworkers, former indigenous British Indian Ocean Territory people of the islands (often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois) were mostly transferred to Mauritius, but also Seychelles. In 2000, the British High Court reversed the local immigration ban, which had barred them from the archipelago, but upheld the exclusive military status of Diego Garcia British Indian ocean territory. The case was subsequently referred to the International Court of Justice in June 2017. No timeline has been set for the return of the Ilois, but they intend to resume copra production and fishing, maybe British Indian Ocean Territory tourism when they do.

British Indian Ocean Territory as a state

Who owns Diego Garcia and all other areas in BIOT? BIOT is governed by a Commissioner appointed by the Queen, from the center created in London. The Royal Navy Commander represents the British Indian Ocean's territory, who was appointed as the Commissioner's Representative. This official is also doing the duty of the commander of the British Forces in Diego Garcia, in addition to being the highest civilian authority in the territory. Commander Kay Burbidge currently controls the post. London has stated that when there will be no need to use these areas for defense purposes, it will eventually turn the archipelago over to Mauritius. 

What is the population of British Indian Ocean Territory? 

Although British Indian Ocean Territory is under the United Kingdom's sovereignty, these areas are not exactly part of the United Kingdom. British Indian Ocean Territory passport and citizenship is completely different from British citizenship. Simply, citizenship does not grant the right to live in the United Kingdom. British Indian Ocean Territory passport does not give a valid permit for abiding here. British citizenship rights applied to all British Indian Ocean Territory people on 21 May 2002, it should have been a right of abode in the UK. They may only use the right to fully abode by entering the UK on a British Citizen passport or with a British Indian Ocean Territory passport and documenting the right of abode. The British Indian Ocean Territory people traveling to the UK on a BOTC passport without a certificate of the right of abode need to pass the immigration control. British citizens who want to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory can do it with a British passport and special permission about entering. 

How to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory?

If you want to know how to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory, you will answer all your questions from this article. A person who wants to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory needs to get permission even before anything. Media, casual tourists are not allowed to enter the area. Commercial activities like shopping or buying any kind of goods are restricted, and also, there are no commercial flights here. Result of these restrictions, British Indian Ocean Territory tourism is not developed. Also, access by sea road to Diego Garcia British Indian Ocean Territory is only available to the military. British Indian Ocean Territory flag is separate from the flag of Britain. Besides, the Britain flag also is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory flag. Thus, the color of the flag is white, and there are six blue wavy horizontal stripes, which look like waves; the flag of the United Kingdom is in the upper left of the flag. There is also a palm tree and a yellow crown located at the stripped side. The crown symbolizes the territory. The wavy stripes are for representing the Indian Ocean. There is the possibility that the six blue stripes in British Indian Ocean Territory flag are symbolic of six main atolls. 

Flora and Fauna

Preservation of nature and species, which are endangered or one of their kind is what is British Indian Ocean Territory wants to achieve. Many wildlife and one percent of the coral reef in the world are in the protected areas of this territory. Endangered animals, including green turtles, hawksbill sea turtles, sharks, and rays preserved here. You can also see some species, which do not exist anywhere in the world except BIOT. The Chagos brain coral and Chagos anemonefish are the species, which are inhabited exclusively in these areas. There are no permits for fishing except for personal use. It means that you cannot do fishing commercially, restriction has turned out good and helped the remaining natural environment. These reefs around the British Indian Ocean Territory map have dramatically more fish than any spot in the Indian Ocean.  British Indian Ocean Territory tourism lets you experience a few coral reefs and amazingly various fish populations, as there are strict limitations on diving. You can only explore the fauna and flora from what you can see on the surface. As speaking from the flora, coconut crabs make this place famous, because of their heights. These trees are the biggest land arthropods around the globe, which can grow a meter-long. These trees are very plentiful; those are remains from the years when there was still plantation. Indian mulberry, sea trumpet, and tropical almond are common trees in this area. Strict limitations have been set to protect and maintain the natural life of the wild. The area is very vulnerable and sensitive to any other species that are not from here. For preserving this maintenance, all non-native creatures, even the smallest ones, are not welcomed here. You need to wash everything- including the fruits, vegetables, natural plants, etc. before landing. Even eating the food, you bring with you in the BIOT lands is restricted; the restriction is for preventing the possibility of spreading some seeds.

Diego Garcia

What is the population of British Indian Ocean Territory, Diego Garcia? How to travel to British Indian Ocean Territory, Diego Garcia? Who owns Diego Garcia? Where is Diego Garcia on the British Indian Ocean Territory map? Diego Garcia is an island owned by the United Kingdom and has been remaining as the country's overseas territory. The island is located in the south of the equator in the Indian Ocean. It is part of the Chagos Archipelago and the largest piece of land inside the territory. The first discovery of Diego Garcia was by Europeans. The land was transferred to Britain's authority after the Napoleonic Wars. Diego Garcia included the newly created territory- "British Indian Ocean Territory" in 1965, after being part of the British Colonies for a long time. The question comes to the mind, "What is the population of British Indian Ocean Territory, Diego Garcia?". The population was 924 in 1966. People who lived here were mainly farm workers on coconut plantations owned by the large company "Chagos-Agalega". Pensioners and disabled people, also children older than the age of 12, were required for working, and paying with housing in exchange for work was a common thing. After the year 1968, the UK Government forcibly removed former farmworkers from Diego Garcia and established a US- UK joint military base on the island. The population of the island deployed to nearby islands like Mauritius and Seychelles. The military base that was created here has been continuing operations since then. The population of Diego Garcia consists of military personnel and some workers besides the fact that the only populated area in BIOT is this island. One more interesting fact about the island is that the status of the largest contiguous land rim of all atolls around the globe belongs to here—the dryland rim's width changes from a few hundred meters to 2.4 km. Sea and airways are used for transportation. All the foods and tools brought to the island by several ways of transport and waste were shipped from Diego Garcia as well. Any kind of non - biodegradable waste is not acceptable. From 2004 to 2009, container ships with US-flagged, called "MV Baffin Strait '' have delivered 250 containers to the island. Cargo sent from Singapore. Ships also carry recyclable metals back to the shipping center.