Diego Garcia's British Isles in the Indian Ocean (The Strangest Borders in the World)
Diego Garcia Island, approximately 1,600 km south of India, is the largest of the Chagos Islands, with which it forms the British Indian Ocean Territory. This territory, separated from Mauritius in 1965 shortly before independence from the United Kingdom, is claimed by the Republic of Mauritius as part of the Outer Islands. Today, it hosts a major Anglo-American base.
The archipelago was discovered in 1512 by Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas. By the late 1960s, Diego Garcia was inhabited by approximately 2,000 îlois, direct descendants of farmers who arrived on the island in the late 1800s. In 1966, Great Britain, ignoring the îlois' pre-existing residence and property, granted the US military use of the island for 70 years, without either parliament being involved in the agreement. For this reason, all the Ilois were deported by the British authorities, with the support of US naval forces, to the island of Mauritius. An entire population was sacrificed to build a massive military base. The British government paid more than $5 million in compensation to over 1,300 people, on the condition that they renounce further attempts to return to the island.
Some Ilois and their descendants have since never renounced their right to return, so much so that recently, in 2019, the United Nations General Assembly ordered Great Britain to return the entire Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, to Mauritius.
(Sources: Wikipedia, BBC News)