Talk:Chagos Archipelago

NPOV!!

Yeah, so some of this first section is seriously inflammatory and clearly NPOV. I don't know a darn thing about the situation, so I'm not gonna clean it up myself, but I will flag it, note it, and hope someone else can take over.

Corrected ...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 14:07, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

most isolated islands in world?

I'm sure this isn't right - isn't St Helena or another British south Atlantic island more isolated? Saccerzd 16:30, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Corrected ...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 14:06, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

Clearer Map? (copied from Gaimhreadhan's user talk page)

The map of the Chagos you restored is not clearer and not more detailed. Did you bother to check with geographical Sites? In a nation like the Chagos made up of Submerged reefs, superficial reefs and dry land (very little of the latter), it is of the utmost importance to illuustrate the difference between the three. A map with only black outlines (most of them geographically inaccurate) like the one you restored, can never be clear enough. With my map I have tried to illustrate the particular geographical condition of the Chagos archipelago. Please check the image in high resolution. Besides the map you restored doesn't even have the Owen Bank and has a question mark instead. You could have checked well before removing my highly accurate map. We are supposed to improve the quality, not bring it down. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mohonu (talk • contribs) 04:25, 1 May 2007 (UTC).

I did closely examine both maps before I reverted your change. I agree that `your' map would be the better one to have if you were the master of a Super Tanker with a draught exceeding 60 feet. Unfortunately, because of the detail, when presented as a thumbnail as you edited it, none of the captions or names were visible at all. For the lede I think the map with clear captions and without a dark blue background is better. However the article's talk page is really the place to be discussing this - not here.

I have now added 'your' map to the right of the long history section, changed the caption and enlarged it to the minimum size necessary to read anything.

Thanks also for providing the Maldivian mariner reference - I have now also corrected the syntax so it displays better in the footnotes...

One wee quibble: you tend to mark you edits as minor; if you feel strongly enough about them to come here to my talk page rather than discussing them on the article's talk page, I suggest you do not mark them as minor.

Thanks for your useful contributions in improving our article!

PS: You do realise that, because Owen Bank is dropping to the sea floor and sea levels are rising, many cartographic charts no longer show Owen as a bank at all because of it's extreme depth - hence the question mark? ...Gaimhreadhan^{(kiwiexile at DMOZ)} • 10:38, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Owen- Submerged Bank or Atoll?

As stated above, Owen Bank is dropping steadily. However, since it was in the past an atoll structure, shouldn't it be listed in the table as a submerged atoll instead of a submerged bank? --Maurice45 (talk) 11:26, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

A map showing the continents?

I cant guess where the archipellago lies, near Africa? in the Atlantic Ocean? in the nort pole? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.253.241.55 (talk) 17:56, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Updated link

Updated History Commons link in ref. Old link outdated. 98.67.83.141 (talk) 17:51, 16 July 2009 (UTC) Black Max

'presented' or 'prevented'?

"It was only by means of the executive order that this was presented." Should that last word for 'prevented'? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.133.51.201 (talk) 00:16, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Hundreds of US Service Members?

I find it highly unlikely that there are hundreds as supplies are flown in as weather permits and if there is any chance of them not being able to land on the Island the flight is deferred. I was on Diego Garcia for close to three weeks in the late 1990's and though I did not stop and count the people on the Island I can say that I do not believe the facilities would support hundreds of US military as well as the British presence, the contracted workers, and the merchant marines who use the Island as a stop over. I may be wrong but I don't think so. 216.96.63.165 (talk) 13:54, 23 July 2010 (UTC)Varsir

Is Africa or Asia ???

Halfway in the middle of the Indian Ocean, ok, I understand. But geologically is the archipelago considered to belong to Africa or Asia ?? Why there is no mention on that ? I am trying to find it out and i cannot find any information about that. It should belong to one of the continents.08:12, 4 May 2011 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Maxcrc (talk • contribs)

Geologically they are recent marine (or oceanic) crust that has never been part of any continent. Do you mean, which tectonic plate they are located on? They are on the eastern slope of the mid-ocean ridge that separates the Indian and African tectonic plates, placing them on the Indian plate, though a little farther south and it looks as if they would be on the Australian plate. The Indian tectonic plate is distinct from the Eurasian plate and India is as a subcontinental landmass that started out as part of Africa and, thanks to the mid-ocean ridge mentioned before, has now collided with Asia forming the Himalayas in the process. See for instance http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/plate.html. 65.78.152.17 (talk) 06:24, 28 June 2011 (UTC) JWD

size of marine reserve

The line "At 640,000 km2, it is larger than the country of France or the state of California. It doubled the total area of environmental no take zones worldwide." should surely say 540,000 not 640,000. This is the size given both earlier in the article and in the source it links to (and also by the UK gov in http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/PDF/ot_biodiversity2011_BIOT.pdf) this would however make it smaller than France.

Fixed: The size is 640,00 sq km, see for example Chagos Marine Reserve and other reliable sources linked at Chagos Marine Protected Area. Whizz40 (talk) 06:00, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

EL Dead links

In the process of doing EL cleanup, there are two dead links in that section. I'm placing them here for reference, in case they can later be repaired and integrated into the article:

• Coral Reef Degradation in the Indian Ocean
• Article about the real history and life of the Chagossians

PaintedCarpet (talk) 14:17, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Reserve area

There is a broken convert at Chagos Archipelago#Present (the unit should be "sqmi" with no space). The article used to say "640,00 sq km (397,667 sq mi)" until the recent edit which added {{convert}}. I would have fixed it (and added "|order=flip" so the km² is first which seems most compatible with the rest of the article), but what is the correct area!?

• Previous version of this article: 640,00 sq km (397,667 sq mi) (640,000? 64,000?)
• {{convert|397,667|sqmi|km2|abbr=on|order=flip}} → 1,029,950 km² (397,667 sq mi) (very different!)
• {{convert|545,000|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} → 545,000 km² (210,000 sq mi)
• Ref 1: 210,000 square miles
• Ref 2: 545,000-sq-km
• Ref 3: quarter of a million square miles

It looks like using 545,000 km² would be best? Johnuniq (talk) 05:05, 1 April 2015 (UTC)