Eagle Islands is a group of two

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 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 ...

. They are located on 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 . Islands Despite its enormous size, the Great Chagos Bank is largely a submarine structure. Ther ...

, 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.

Islands

With a land area of 2.45 km, Île Aigle is the largest single island of the Great Chagos Bank, and after

Diego Garcia Diego Garcia is the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago. It has been used as a joint UK–U.S. military base since the 1970s, following the expulsion of the Chagossians by the UK government. The Chagos Islands are set to become a former B ...

the second largest of the Chagos Archipelago. *Eagle Island (Île Aigle) * Sea Cow Island (Île Vache Marine)

History

There was once a coconut plantation in Ile Aigle, as well as a small settlement of Chagossian plantation workers. But at the time of Commander

Robert Moresby Robert Moresby (15 June 1794 – 15 June 1854Some sources mention that he is thought to have died in 1863.) was a captain of the East India Company's Bombay Marine/Indian Navy who distinguished himself as a hydrographer, maritime surveyor ...

's survey of the Chagos in 1838, this island was populated only occasionally. Not long after the settlement of the Chagos group by the French planters at the end of the 18th century, the tendency was to concentrate the workers on only a few islands from which the plantations were run, like Ile Boddam in the

Salomon Atoll The Salomon Islands or Salomon Atoll is a small atoll of the Chagos Archipelago. Description The atoll is located in the northeast of the Chagos Archipelago, between Blenheim Reef and Peros Banhos. The main islands in the group are Île Bodda ...

. In 1975 during the

Joint Services The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping ef ...

Expedition to Danger Island (JSDI), the expedition members were taken by

RFA Resurgent RFA ''Resurgent'' (A280) was an armament support ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). Built by Scotts of Greenock as ''Changchow'', a cargo/passenger liner for the China Navigation Co. Made redundant by the Communist victory in 1949, ''Cha ...

to Eagle Islands 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 f ...

and inflatable craft to Danger Island and onward 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. Since 1998 the islands are part of the

Chagos Archipelago Strict Nature Reserve The Chagos Marine Protected Area, located in the central Indian Ocean in the British Indian Ocean Territory of the United Kingdom, is one of the world's largest officially designated marine protected areas, and one of the largest protected areas ...

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
/ref>

References

External links

Joint Services Expedition To Danger Island - (1975) commemorative postcardChagos research papers and books
Chagos Archipelago Uninhabited islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory Nature reserves Former populated places in the Indian Ocean {{BritishIndianOcean-geo-stub