where are the chagos islands on the map

The Chagos Islands (Chagos Archipelago) are in the central Indian Ocean , roughly halfway between Africa and Indonesia, south of India and Sri Lanka, and south of the Maldives.

Where they are on the map

• Look at a world map and find the Indian Ocean between Africa on the left and Indonesia on the right.

• The Chagos Islands sit:
  • About 500 km south of the Maldives.

* Roughly between latitude 4.5–7.5°S and longitude 71–73°E.

* Around 1,770 km east of Mahé in Seychelles and over 2,000 km northeast of Mauritius.

On many maps they are labeled “Chagos Archipelago” or “British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT),” with Diego Garcia marked as the main island.

Quick political and news context

• The Chagos Archipelago has long been administered by the UK as the British Indian Ocean Territory, with a major military base on Diego Garcia.

• Mauritius has contested UK control; in recent years international courts and the UN have backed Mauritius’s claim, and in October 2024 the UK and Mauritius announced an agreement that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago.

Why people are talking about it

• The islands are a trending topic in news and forums because of:
  • The sovereignty handover process from the UK to Mauritius and what it means for international law.

* The historic displacement of Chagossian people and ongoing debates about their right to return.

* Environmental issues, since the area includes a large marine protected zone with globally significant reefs.

In forum discussions, people often admit they have no idea where the Chagos Islands are, or confuse them with places like the Caribbean, which is part of why map-based posts about them go viral.

TL;DR: On the map, the Chagos Islands are a small, remote archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean, south of the Maldives and far northeast of Mauritius, around 5–7° south and 71–73° east.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.