Mauritius, an off-shore financial centre, needs to close its fiscal deficit to head off a downgrading of its credit rating. The focus on the Chagos has taken attention away from Agaléga.

As Mauritius takes back control, there are big environmental implications. These 247,000 square miles (640,000km²) of remote seas include among the most pristine tropical coral reef ecosystems on ...

The Chagos Archipelago became a British territory in 1814. In 1965, the U.K. formally separated the islands from its then-colony Mauritius, before Mauritius gained independence three years later.