Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2007) - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2001)

Compare British Indian Ocean Territory (2007) z South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2001)

	British Indian Ocean Territory (2007)	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2001)

Airports	1 (2007)	none
Airports - with paved runways	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2007)	-
Area	total: 54,400 sq km land: 60 sq km; Diego Garcia 44 sq km water: 54,340 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago of 55 islands	total: 3,903 sq km land: 3,903 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Shag Rocks, Black Rock, Clerke Rocks, South Georgia Island, Bird Island, and the South Sandwich Islands, which consist of some nine islands
Area - comparative	land area is about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC	slightly larger than Rhode Island
Background	Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently, BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands, Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers, earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In 2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration order that had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.	The islands lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands. Grytviken, on South Georgia, was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station. The famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot. He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew, stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula. He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken. Today, the station houses a small military garrison. The islands have large bird and seal populations and, recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters, the UK, in 1993, extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 miles to 200 miles around each island.
Budget	-	revenues: $291,777 expenditures: $451,000, including capital expenditures of $NA (1988 est.)
Climate	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds	variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow
Coastline	698 km	NA km
Constitution	-	adopted 3 October 1985
Country name	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT	conventional long form: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands conventional short form: none
Dependency status	overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London	overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by UK civil commissioner Donald A. LAMONT, representing Queen ELIZABETH II; Grytviken, formerly a whaling station on South Georgia, is the garrison town
Diplomatic representation from the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)
Diplomatic representation in the US	none (overseas territory of the UK)	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)
Disputes - international	Mauritius and Seychelles claim 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 2006, the High Court of London reversed U.K. 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	claimed by Argentina
Economy - overview	All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where a joint UK-US military facility is located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installation are performed by military and contract employees from the UK, Mauritius, the Philippines, and the US. There are no industrial or agricultural activities on the islands. When the native Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing. The territory makes money by selling fishing licenses and postage stamps.	Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting fin fish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK.
Electricity - consumption	NA kWh	NA kWh
Electricity - production	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military	-
Electricity - production by source	-	fossil fuel: NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA%
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Paget (South Georgia) 2,934 m
Environment - current issues	NA	NA
Executive branch	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner Leigh TURNER (since July 2006); Administrator Tony HUMPHRIES (since February 2005); note - both reside in the UK and are represented by the officer commanding British Forces on Diego Garcia cabinet: NA elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; commissioner and administrator appointed by the monarch	-
Flag description	white with six blue wavy horizontal stripes; the flag of the UK is in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the striped section bears a palm tree and yellow crown centered on the outer half of the flag	the flag of the UK is used
Geographic coordinates	6 00 S, 71 30 E; note - Diego Garcia 7 20 S, 72 25 E	54 30 S, 37 00 W
Geography - note	archipelago of 55 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility	the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in this century, live on South Georgia
Irrigated land	0 sq km	0 sq km (1993)
Land boundaries	0 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (2005)	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: 0% other: 100% (largely covered by permanent ice and snow with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen)
Legal system	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply
Location	archipelago in the Indian Ocean, south of India, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia	Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America
Map references	Political Map of the World	Antarctic Region
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 3 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm	exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Military - note	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016	defense is the responsibility of the UK
National holiday	-	Liberation Day, 14 June (1982)
Natural hazards	NA	the South Sandwich Islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism
Natural resources	coconuts, fish, sugarcane	fish
Population	no indigenous inhabitants note: approximately 1,200 former agricultural workers resident in the Chagos Archipelago, often referred to as Chagossians or Ilois, were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles in the 1960s and 1970s; in November 2000 they were granted the right of return by a British High Court ruling, though no timetable has been set; in November 2004, there were approximately 4,000 UK and US military personnel and civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia	no indigenous inhabitants note: the small military garrison on South Georgia withdrew in March 2001, to be replaced by a permanent group of scientists of the British Antarctic Survey which also has a biological station on Bird Island; the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited (July 2001 est.)
Ports and harbors	-	Grytviken
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)	none
Telephone system	general assessment: separate facilities for military and public needs are available domestic: all commercial telephone services are available, including connection to the Internet international: country code (Diego Garcia) - 246; international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)	general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: coastal radiotelephone station at Grytviken
Telephones - main lines in use	NA	-
Television broadcast stations	1 (1997)	0 (1997)
Terrain	flat and low (most areas do not exceed two meters in elevation)	most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes
Waterways	-	none

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