Peros Banhos
Encyclopedia
Atoll
An atoll is a coral island that encircles a lagoon partially or completely.- Usage :The word atoll comes from the Dhivehi word atholhu OED...
in the Chagos Archipelago
Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos Archipelago , is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean; situated some due south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands are the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge a long submarine mountain range...
of the British Indian Ocean Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
The British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia...
.
Île Yeye
Île Yeye
Île Yeye is an island of the Peros Banhos atoll in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory. It is the island of the Chagos that is closest to the Maldives.The island is located within the Peros Banhos Atoll Strict Nature Reserve....
, located at the northeastern corner of the atoll, is the island of the Chagos that is closest to the Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
.
Geography
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
, which is connected to the open sea, and the reef flat
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
.
Peros Banhos is a medium sized coralline atoll circled by a regular coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
, similar to those in the neighboring Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
. The diameter of the lagoon, known as Baie de Peros Banhos in French, is just above 20 km. The circling reef is sunken on its southeastern rim. All islands are flat and sandy and the largest ones are covered with coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
trees.
The largest and most important island in the group is Île du Coin. It was home to the Perch Settlement from where the coconut plantations of the Atoll were run. This island was the main port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
of the atoll and had a jetty to load and unload merchandise.
Île du Coin was the only island that was settled permanently in Peros Banhos. Other important islands in the atoll which had buildings on them and were also occasionally inhabited were Grande Soeur, Île Diamant, Île Manoël and Île Pierre. All these islands were part of the former coconut plantation run from Île du Coin.
Île Yeye, at the northeastern corner of the atoll, is the island of the Chagos that is closest to the Maldives
Maldives
The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...
. The distance between Île Yeye and Gan Island (Addu Atoll
Addu Atoll
Addu City is a city in Maldives consisting of the inhabited islands of the southernmost atoll of the archipelago....
) is 523 km.
There have been some changes in the geography of this atoll since the first maps were published in the mid-19th century. Île St. Brandon, which was covered with coconut trees when the first survey of this atoll was done, is now just a sandbank. On the other hand, in the western rim of Peros Banhos, the island north of Île Verte was only a small sandbank at the time of Commander Robert Moresby
Robert Moresby
Robert Moresby was a distinguished captain of the British Royal Navy. He was also an excellent hydrographer, maritime surveyor and draughtsman....
's Survey in 1837, but now it is a medium-sized island covered with vegetation.
History
Peros Banhos was discovered in 1513 by PortuguesePortuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
navigator Alfonso de Albuquerque. The name of this atoll derives from "Pêro dos Banhos", the name of another Portuguese navigator who died there after his ship ran aground on this atoll.
The earliest and most interesting description of Peros Banhos was written by Manoel Rangel in «A Tragédia dos Baixos de Pero dos Banhos». He was a castaway from the Portuguese
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
ship Conceição under captain Francisco Nobre which ran aground and was smashed on the Peros Banhos reefs in 1556.
165 survivors were left on a flat sandy island of Peros Banhos before coconut trees were there; among them were two women and five Catholic priests. Rangel mentions that there were weeds and grasses and that about ten thousand birds lived on that Island. While the birds lasted the castaways survived, but they began to die in great numbers after having eaten most of the bird population.
According to Manoel Rangel there was drinking water to be found by digging shallow wells in the sand. Also many turtles came to lay eggs
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
on the beach of that island.
Since 1756 Île du Coin was home to a population of up to 500 people. Most of the inhabitants, the Ilois
Ilois
The Chagossians are an ethnic group who were the indigenous inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory. The Chagossians resided in the islands of Diego Garcia, Peros Banhos, and the Salomon island chain, and had settled in other parts of the Chagos Archipelago, like Egmont...
, were workers in the coconut plantations and in the oil-producing industry. The Ilois were Christian and there were churches and primary schools in Peros Banhos before the local population was moved away. Their language was a Creole
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
version of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, known as Chagossian Creole
Chagossian Creole
Chagossian Creole is a French-based Creole spoken by the 3,000 or so Chagossians, the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago. It is currently spoken mainly in Mauritius and the Seychelles. There is also a small minority community speaking the language in the United Kingdom....
. There is a small bushy island called Île Diable on the NW of the atoll. The name of this islet suggests that there were some local folkloric beliefs.
Moresby Island, at the northern end of Peros Banhos Atoll was named after Robert Moresby
Robert Moresby
Robert Moresby was a distinguished captain of the British Royal Navy. He was also an excellent hydrographer, maritime surveyor and draughtsman....
, a British hydrographer who made the first accurate survey of the Chagos Archipelago
Chagos Archipelago
The Chagos Archipelago , is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean; situated some due south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands are the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge a long submarine mountain range...
in 1837. After Moresby's survey, the first detailed map of Peros Banhos Atoll was published by the Hydrographic Service of the Indian Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
In 1970, the entire population of Peros Banhos Atoll was expelled by the British Government and sent to live in Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
. More recently, the islands have been investigated as a possible location for resettlement, although access is currently prohibited.
Nature Reserve
The part of the atoll east of a line drawn between the easternmost point of land on Moresby Island (north) and the easternmost point of land on Fouquet Island (south) fall within the Peros Banhos Atoll Strict Nature Reserve http://www.chagosconservationtrust.org/Conservation%20Plan/Chagos%20Conservation%20Management%20Plan%202003.pdf. Entry into this and into the other Strict Nature ReserveNature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
s, and within 200 metres of the islands therein is prohibited and activities are clearly proscribed by the British Indian Ocean Territory
British Indian Ocean Territory
The British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia...
.
Yachtsmen are advised not to even anchor within the limits of the Peros Banhos Atoll Strict Nature Reserve.
List of islands
With some 32 islets, the Peros Banhos Atoll encompasses about half of all islands in the Chagos Archipelago. The individual islands and islets are listed clockwise, starting in the south:Southwest rim (between southern channel and Passe de l'Île Poule)
- Île Fouquet
- Mapou de l'Île du Coin
- Île du Coin
- Île Anglaise
- Île Monpâtre
- Île Gabrielle
- Île Poule
Northwest rim (between Passe de l'Île Poule and Moresby Channel)
- Petite Soeur
- Grande Soeur
- Île Finon
- Île Verte
- unnamed island
- Île Manon
- Île Pierre
- Île Diable
- Petite Île Mapou
- Grande Île Mapou
- Île Diamant
Eastern part (east of southern channel and Moresby Channel)
- Île de la Passe
- Moresby Island
- Île Saint-Brandon
- Île Parasol
- Île Longue
- Grande Île Bois Mangue
- Petite Île Bois Mangue
- Île Manoël
- unnamed islet
- Île YeyeÎle YeyeÎle Yeye is an island of the Peros Banhos atoll in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory. It is the island of the Chagos that is closest to the Maldives.The island is located within the Peros Banhos Atoll Strict Nature Reserve....
(0.60 km²) - Petite Île Coquillage
- Grande Île Coquillage
- Coin du Mire
- Île Vache Marine
Passe de l'Île Poule is also called Passe Elisabeth on older maps.
The islands in the eastern part are part of the Peros Banhos Strict Nature Reserve, except Île De La Passe and Moresby Island.
Literature
- R.P. Roger Dussercle S. Sp., "Archipel de Chagos", En Mission 10 Novembre 1933 - 11 Januar 1934, Port Lois - Île Maurice: The General Printing & Stationery Cy. Ltd., T. Eclapon, Administrateur, MCMXXXIV