The History of the Chagos Islands & Diego Garcia

This page is dedicated to providing resources on the history and lives of people from the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, in the past and today. We invite all educators to engage students with a history that may be little known but yet that connected to students because of the U.S. involvement.

It is organized by sections:

  • Where are the Chagos islands;
  • Understanding the history;
  • The lives of key people;
  • Documentaries on the Chagos;
  • Food, Music, and Culture of the Chagos;
  • Books;
  • News on Chagos.

Where are the Chagos Islands?

Image retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/site/thechagosarchipelagofacts/home?authuser=0

The history of the Chagos:

A Chagos History Timeline developed by American University, which includes a full archive of historic photos, a timeline, some music and other aspects of Chagossian history and culture. The timeline stops in 2018 before the International Criminal Court Hearing in favor of Chagossian and the negotiations that have begun in late 2022 between Mauritius and the U.K.
The Chagos Archipelago: A comprehensive website that covers the ecology, reef, history, creation of the British Indian Ocean Territories, dispute, Wikileaks papers, Diego Garcia, and much more!
Common Declaration after Victories on Chagos: an article published by Lalit on the status of the struggle March 23, 2023

The Lives of Chagossian Women Leaders:

Humanize the history of the Chagos through the lives of Chagossian women who have fought for return to their islands:

Charlesia Alexis (1934-2012)
Hear her songs here , including the songs referenced in Shenaz Patel’s The Silence of the Chagos

Read more about Charlesia here.

Aurélie Marie Lisette Talate (1941-2012)
Hear her songs here and here

Read an article from the Mauritian press here.

Rita Bancoult (1925 – 2016)
Rita Bancoult, mother of Chagos Refugee Group leader Olivier Bancoult

First-hand narratives to use in the classroom

Olivier Bancoult. Photo by Matt Dunham, AP.
Olivier Bancoult: “Chagos is our home that we were forcibly exiled from the UK” (Le Mauricien article by Olivier Bancoult, 8 March 2024)

The US and UK stole our homes 50 years on, we’re still being denied justice.” (Open Democracy article by Olivier Bancoult, 18 April 2023)

Documentaries and Short Videos

The short videos are an efficient way to introduce and humanize the history for your students.

Last British Colony in Africa: Human Rights Watch short video in English about the Chagos (1:27 min)
Help the Chagos islands: a solidarity video in English (2:25 min) featuring the mesmerizing voice of Aurélie Talate
Absolutely Must Go a new feature-length documentary by S. Jean Noël Pierre in Kreol, English and French with English subtitles; available for rental for $6.99 (1h12min/52 min)
Stealing a Nation, a feature-length documentary in English by the late John Pilger, available on YouTube (56 min).
Chagos, ou la mémoire des îles a feature length documentary in Kreol and French with French subtitles (1h 29 min)

 


Food, Music, and Culture of the Chagos

Groupe Tambour Chagos full album on Filoumoris (1985)
Chagos Heritage: A series of short videos with music instrument demonstrations, recipes, and more!

 


Primary Sources

Military:

https://cnrj.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NSF-Diego-Garcia/

https://cnrj.cnic.navy.mil/Installations/NSF-Diego-Garcia/About/About-Diego-Garcia/

Office of the historian:

The 1967 memo: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v21/d45

State Department:

https://www.state.gov/dependencies-and-areas-of-special-sovereignty/

International Court of Justice (ICJ) proceedings:

https://www.icj-cij.org/case/169

UN General Assembly:

https://press.un.org/en/2019/ga12146.doc.htm


Books

Island of Shame (2011) by David Vine

Silence of the Chagos (translated from French, 2019) by Shenaz Patel

En Français

Le Rivage de la Colère (2020) par Caroline Laurent

Le silence des Chagos (2018) par Shenaz Patel

News on Chagos

Chagos refugees continue the decades-long fight for justice, NPR, September 29, 2023

Crime against humanity… Democracy Now reporting, October 2023

Statement on the Status of the Campaign 22 March 2023, a good statement to read for updates from the timeline linked above.

Lalit open letter on Chagos and Diego Garcia warns Human Rights Watch of Trap set by isolated UK state apparatus (January 11, 2023) and Decolonize Chagos! (25 February 2023)