What is the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago?

What is the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago? Diego Garcia. This coral atoll is the largest island in the Chagos group, in the central Indian Ocean south of the Maldives.

Diego Garcia is unusual because the name refers both to the main island and, commonly, to the surrounding atoll. The atoll covers roughly 174 square kilometres, while its dry land is only about 27 square kilometres. A broad rim of land almost encloses a large lagoon, creating the distinctive ring-shaped geography of an atoll.

The Chagos Archipelago also includes the Salomon Islands, Peros Banhos, the Egmont Islands, the Three Brothers, and many smaller islands and reefs. Some geographical descriptions compare land area, atoll area, or submerged reef structures, but Diego Garcia remains the largest emerged island.

The island has been used as a joint United Kingdom–United States military facility since the 1970s. Its modern history is also connected with the forced removal of Chagossians, making the island significant in legal and political debates as well as geography.