Peros Banhos

Location of Peros Banhos in the Chagos Islands

Peros Banhos, Pedro dos Banhos or Baixos de Pêro dos Banhos in old maps, is an atoll in the Chagos Archipelago of the British Indian Ocean Territory where formerly there was a coconut plantation and settlement for plantation workers and their families.

Île Yeye, located at the north-eastern corner of the atoll, is the island of the Chagos Archipelago that is closest to the Maldives.

Geography

• Location map: 5°19’60"S, 71°51’-0"E

The atoll has a total area of 194 square miles, but a land area of only 3¾ square miles, made up by some 32 islets. 189 square miles, most of the remaining surface, is occupied by the lagoon, which is connected to the open sea and the reef flat.

Peros Banhos is a medium-sized coralline atoll circled by a regular coral reef, similar to those in the neighbouring Maldives. The diameter of the lagoon, known as Baie de Peros Banhos in French, is 12½ miles. The circling reef is sunken on its south-eastern rim. All islands are flat and sandy and the largest ones are covered with coconut trees.

The largest and most important island in the group is Île du Coin. It was home to the Perch Settlement from where the coconut plantations of the atoll were run. This island was the main port of the atoll and had a jetty to load and unload merchandise.

Île du Coin was the only island of Peros Banhos that was settled permanently. Other important islands in the atoll that had buildings on them and were also occasionally inhabited were Grande Soeur, Île Diamant, Île Manoël and Île Pierre. All these islands were part of the former coconut plantation run from Île du Coin.

Île Yeye, at the north-eastern corner of the atoll, is the island of the Chagos that is closest to the Maldives. The distance between Île Yeye and Gan Island is 325 miles.

There have been some changes in the geography of this atoll since the first maps were published in the mid-19th century. Île St. Brandon, which was covered with coconut trees when the first survey of this atoll was done, is now just a sandbank. On the other hand, in the western rim of Peros Banhos, the island north of Île Verte was only a small sandbank at the time of Commander Robert Moresby's Survey in 1837, but now it is a medium-sized island covered with vegetation.

History

Peros Banhos was discovered in 1513 by Portuguese navigator Afonso de Albuquerque. The name of this atoll derives from "Pêro dos Banhos", the name of a fellow Portuguese navigator who died there after his ship ran aground on this atoll.

The earliest and most interesting description of Peros Banhos was written by Manoel Rangel in «A Tragédia dos Baixos de Pero dos Banhos». He was a castaway from the Portuguese ship Conceição under captain Francisco Nobre that ran aground and was smashed on the Peros Banhos reefs in 1556.

This account tells that 165 survivors were left on a flat sandy island of Peros Banhos; among them were two women and five Catholic priests. This was long before the introduction of coconut trees. Rangel mentions that there were weeds and grasses and that about ten thousand birds lived on that Island. While the birds lasted the castaways survived, but they began to die in great numbers after having eaten most of the bird population.

According to Manoel Rangel there was drinking water to be found by digging shallow wells in the sand. Also many turtles came to lay eggs on the beach of that island.

Since 1756 Île du Coin was home to a population of up to 500 people. Most of the inhabitants were workers in the coconut plantations and in the oil-producing industry. There were churches and primary schools in Peros Banhos before the local population was moved away. Their language was a Creole version of French, known as Chagossian Creole.

A small bushy island called Île Diable lies to the north-west of the atoll.

Moresby Island, at the northern end of Peros Banhos Atoll was named after Robert Moresby, a British hydrographer who made the first accurate survey of the Chagos Archipelago in 1837. After Moresby's survey, the first detailed map of Peros Banhos Atoll was published by the Hydrographic Service of the Indian Navy.

In 1970, the entire population of Peros Banhos Atoll was removed and sent for resettlement in Mauritius.

In February 2022, exiled islanders made their an unsupervised visit to the island organised by the Government of Mauritius in pursuit of a territorial claim.

Nature Reserve

The part of the atoll east of a line drawn between the easternmost point of land on Moresby Island (north) and the easternmost point of land on Fouquet Island (south) fall within the 'Peros Banhos Atoll Strict Nature Reserve'. Entry into this and into the other Strict Nature Reserves, and within 200 yards of the islands therein is prohibited and activities are clearly proscribed by British Indian Ocean Territory law. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because of its significance as a breeding site for sooty terns, of which 14,000 pairs were recorded in a 2004 survey.

Yachtsmen are advised not to even anchor within the limits of the Peros Banhos Atoll Strict Nature Reserve.

List of islands

With some 32 islets, the Peros Banhos Atoll encompasses about half of all islands in the Chagos Archipelago. The individual islands and islets are listed clockwise, starting in the south:

Map of Peros Banhos	South-west rim (between southern channel and Passe de l'Île Poule)	North-west rim (between Passe de l'Île Poule and Moresby Channel)	Eastern part (east of southern channel and Moresby Channel)
Map of Peros Banhos	Île Fouquet Mapou de l'Île du Coin Île du Coin Île Anglaise Île Monpâtre Île Gabrielle Île Poule	Petite Soeur Grande Soeur Île Finon Île Verte Île Libbon Île Manon Île Pierre Île Diable Petite Île Mapou Grande Île Mapou Île Diamant	Île de la Passe Moresby Island Île Saint-Brandon Île Parasol Île Longue Grande Île Bois Mangue Petite Île Bois Mangue Île Manoël Île Animaux Île Yeye Petite Île Coquillage Grande Île Coquillage Coin du Mire Seacow Island

Passe de l'Île Poule is also called Passe Elisabeth on older maps.

The islands in the eastern part are part of the Peros Banhos Strict Nature Reserve, except Île De La Passe and Moresby Island.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Peros Banhos)

• Pictures of Peros Banhos

References

• R.P. Roger Dussercle S. Sp., "Archipel de Chagos", En Mission 10 Novembre 1933 – 11 Januar 1934, Port Lois – Île Maurice: The General Printing & Stationery Cy. Ltd., T. Eclapon, Administrateur, MCMXXXIV