Language/French/Culture/Diego-Garcia-Timeline

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Historical Timeline for Diego Garcia - A chronology of key events

History of Diego Garcia[edit | edit source]

Diego Garcia was discovered in 1512 by the Portuguese navigator Pedro de Mascarenhas18,19, first as “Dom Garcia”, in honor of his patron, Dom Garcia de Noronha. Earlier this year he was sailing in a fleet under the aegis of Noronha, which would later pass to the third viceroy of India (1538-1542). However, it is generally believed that the island was named primarily after Diego García de Moguer, a Spaniard in the service of the Portuguese who in 1544 led a Portuguese expedition and rediscovered the Chagos Archipelago. He gave his name to the largest of the islands. He died on his way back in the middle of the Indian Ocean off the South African coast20,21. The addition of "Diego" to the name of the island can also be done by the British when they copied the Portuguese maps. In addition, a corruption of the Deo Gracias ("Thank God") statement is a possible hypothesis. Details of the find as well as the true origin of the name have yet to be documented.
The atoll was then uninhabited and remained until the 18th century9. The French who colonized the Chagos archipelago brought Africans to Diego Garcia to use them in the coconut groves to extract copra and coconut oil1,9. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, Diego Garcia passed into British hands as part of the Treaty of Paris (1814) 9. From 1881 to 1888 Diego Garcia served as a coal refueling station for British ships sailing between Europe and Australia from the opening of the Suez Canal in 186922.
In 1965, Diego Garcia, like the rest of the Chagos archipelago and some Seychellois islands, was integrated into the newly formed British Indian Ocean territory by the regrouping of islands until then dependent on the British colonies of Mauritius and of the Seychelles1,9. This creation is done with the agreement of Mauritius within the framework of its future independence which will occur on March 12, 19681. Nevertheless, Mauritius changes its point of view and claims since that date sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago1.
In 1971, the Chagossians of Diego Garcia and the inhabitants of the other islands of the British Indian Ocean territory were deported by the United Kingdom, at the request of the United States, to the Seychelles and Mauritius as part of the development of activities soldiers in the atoll1,9. Since then, Diego Garcia no longer has an indigenous population1. However, some of the former inhabitants of the atoll returned there as visitors in April 2006 but without the possibility of returning to live there1. The Chagossians continue to demand a right of return on Diego Garcia and, despite several favorable rulings from British courts, the UK government uses special powers to prevent their return.