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 an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

s east of

Eagle Islands Eagle Islands is a group of two islands in the Chagos Archipelago. They are located on the central-western rim of the Great Chagos Bank, which is the world's largest coral atoll structure. Islands With a land area of 2.45 km, Île Aigle is t ...

along the central western rim of the

Great Chagos Bank The Great Chagos Bank, in the Chagos Archipelago, about south of Maldives, is the largest atoll structure in the world, with a total area of . The atoll is administered by the United Kingdom through the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). ...

, which is the world's largest coral

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

structure, located in the

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives arch ...

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)

History

Discovered by the portuguese, by Vasco da Gama. 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

and 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 fr ...

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 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 are part of the Chagos Archipelago Strict Nature Reserve and it is forbidden to land on the islands or anchor a boat nearby. The islands have large populations of nesting seabirds.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 {{BritishIndianOcean-geo-stub