Seabirds nesting on South Brother island in the Chagos Archipelago

The Three Brothers are a group of three small coral

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s east of Eagle Islands along the central western rim of the Great Chagos Bank, which is the world's largest coral

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical parts of the oceans and seas where corals can develop. Most ...

structure, located in the

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago (, ) or Chagos Islands (formerly , and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands is the southernmo ...

Islands

The individual islands are, from north-west to south-east: * North Brother or Île du Nord (6 ha; 15 acres) * Middle Brother or Île du Milieu (8 ha; 20 acres) * Resurgent Island (1 ha; 2½ acres) * South Brother or Île du Sud (23 ha; 57 acres) * Pangus Island (55 ha; 90 acres)

History

Discovered by the Portuguese, by

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama ( , ; – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and nobleman who was the Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India, first European to reach India by sea. Da Gama's first voyage (1497–1499) was the first to link ...

, the islands were known as Bassas de Chagos. In 1975 during the Joint Services Expedition to Danger Island (JSDI), the expedition members were taken by RFA Resurgent to Eagle Islands, then by

ketch A ketch is a two- masted sailboat whose mainmast is taller than the mizzen mast (or aft-mast), and whose mizzen mast is stepped forward of the rudder post. The mizzen mast stepped forward of the rudder post is what distinguishes the ketch f ...

and inflatable craft to Danger Island, and then to Three Brothers. The expedition made a topographical survey of the coral reefs, an ecological survey of the Pangus corals on it, and a study on the metabolism of the reef. A reference collection of samples of the flora and fauna of the area was also undertaken. Small, rocky Resurgent Island emerged after the naming of the Three Brothers, and was named after the RFA Resurgent, which supported the 1975 Danger Island scientific research expedition to the area. Since 1998 the islands have been part of the Chagos Archipelago

Strict Nature Reserve A strict nature reserve (IUCN category Ia) or wilderness area (IUCN category Ib) is the highest category of protected area recognised by the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), a body which is part of the International Union for ...

. It is forbidden to land on the islands or anchor a boat nearby. The islands have large populations of nesting seabirds, including brown noddies, lesser noddies, sooty terns and tropical shearwaters.6: British Indian Ocean Territory
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References

External links

World's largest marine reserve createdJoint Services Expedition To Danger Island - (1975) commemorative postcardChagos research papers and booksOpisthobranch molluscs from the Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean
Chagos Archipelago Nature reserves Uninhabited islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory Important Bird Areas of the British Indian Ocean Territory {{BritishIndianOcean-geo-stub