:

NA

Television broadcast stations:

1 (1997)

Televisions:

NA

Internet country code:

.io

Internet hosts:

89 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

1 (2000)

Transportation
British Indian Ocean Territory

Airports:

1 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 1
over 3,047 m: 1 (2007)

Roadways:

note: short section of paved road between port and airfield on Diego
Garcia

Ports and terminals:

Diego Garcia

Military
British Indian Ocean Territory

Military - note:

defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego
Garcia expires in 2016

Transnational Issues
British Indian Ocean Territory

Disputes - international:

Mauritius claims the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia; in
2001, the former inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago, evicted in
1967 and 1973 and now residing chiefly in Mauritius, were granted UK
citizenship and the right to repatriation; in May 2007, the UK Court
of Appeals upheld the May 2006 High Court of London judgment
reversing the UK government's 2004 Orders of Council that banned
habitation on the islands; a small group of Chagossians visited
Diego Garcia in April 2006; repatriation is complicated by the
exclusive US military lease of Diego Garcia that restricts access to
the largest viable island in the chain

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

======================================================================

@British Virgin Islands

Introduction
British Virgin Islands

Background:

First inhabited by Arawak and later by Carib Indians, the Virgin
Islands were settled by the Dutch in 1648 and then annexed by the
English in 1672. The islands were part of the British colony of the
Leeward Islands from 1872-1960; they were granted autonomy in 1967.
The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US
Virgin Islands to the west; the US dollar is the legal currency.

Geography
British Virgin Islands

Location:

Caribbean, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean,
east of Puerto Rico

Geographic coordinates:

18 30 N, 64 30 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

total: 153 sq km
land: 153 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: comprised of 16 inhabited and more than 20 uninhabited
islands; includes the islands of Tortola, Anegada, Virgin Gorda,
Jost van Dyke

Area - comparat