Compare Indian Ocean (2004) - British Indian Ocean Territory (2001)

Compare Indian Ocean (2004) z British Indian Ocean Territory (2001)

	Indian Ocean (2004)	British Indian Ocean Territory (2001)

Airports	-	1 (2000 est.)
Airports - with paved runways	-	total: 1 over 3,047 m: 1 (2000 est.)
Area	total: 68.556 million sq km note: includes Andaman Sea, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Flores Sea, Great Australian Bight, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Java Sea, Mozambique Channel, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Savu Sea, Strait of Malacca, Timor Sea, and other tributary water bodies	total: 60 sq km land: 60 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes the entire Chagos Archipelago
Area - comparative	about 5.5 times the size of the US	about 0.3 times the size of Washington, DC
Background	The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's five oceans (after the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean, but larger than the Southern Ocean and Arctic Ocean). Four critically important access waterways are the Suez Canal (Egypt), Bab el Mandeb (Djibouti-Yemen), Strait of Hormuz (Iran-Oman), and Strait of Malacca (Indonesia-Malaysia). The decision by the International Hydrographic Organization in the spring of 2000 to delimit a fifth ocean, the Southern Ocean, removed the portion of the Indian Ocean south of 60 degrees south.	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 resident 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 which had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the special military status of Diego Garcia.
Climate	northeast monsoon (December to April), southwest monsoon (June to October); tropical cyclones occur during May/June and October/November in the northern Indian Ocean and January/February in the southern Indian Ocean	tropical marine; hot, humid, moderated by trade winds
Coastline	66,526 km	698 km
Country name	-	conventional long form: British Indian Ocean Territory conventional short form: none abbreviation: BIOT
Dependency status	-	overseas territory of the UK; administered by a commissioner, resident in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London
Diplomatic representation from the US	-	none (overseas territory of the UK)
Diplomatic representation in the US	-	none (overseas territory of the UK)
Disputes - international	some maritime disputes (see littoral states)	the Chagos Archipelago is claimed by Mauritius and Seychelles
Economy - overview	The Indian Ocean provides major sea routes connecting the Middle East, Africa, and East Asia with Europe and the Americas. It carries a particularly heavy traffic of petroleum and petroleum products from the oilfields of the Persian Gulf and Indonesia. Its fish are of great and growing importance to the bordering countries for domestic consumption and export. Fishing fleets from Russia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan also exploit the Indian Ocean, mainly for shrimp and tuna. Large reserves of hydrocarbons are being tapped in the offshore areas of Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, and western Australia. An estimated 40% of the world's offshore oil production comes from the Indian Ocean. Beach sands rich in heavy minerals and offshore placer deposits are actively exploited by bordering countries, particularly India, South Africa, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.	All economic activity is concentrated on the largest island of Diego Garcia, where joint UK-US defense facilities are located. Construction projects and various services needed to support the military installations are done 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 Ilois return, they plan to reestablish sugarcane production and fishing.
Electricity - consumption	-	NA kWh
Electricity - production	-	NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by the US military
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Java Trench -7,258 m highest point: sea level 0 m	lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Diego Garcia 15 m
Environment - current issues	endangered marine species include the dugong, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in the Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea	NA
Executive branch	-	chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) head of government: Commissioner John WHITE (since NA); Administrator Louise SAVILL (since NA); note - both reside in the UK 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
Geographic coordinates	20 00 S, 80 00 E	6 00 S, 71 30 E
Geography - note	major chokepoints include Bab el Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca, southern access to the Suez Canal, and the Lombok Strait	archipelago of 2,300 islands; Diego Garcia, largest and southernmost island, occupies strategic location in central Indian Ocean; island is site of joint US-UK military facility
Highways	-	total: NA km paved: short stretch of paved road of NA km between port and airfield on Diego Garcia unpaved: NA km
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)	-	1 (2000)
Irrigated land	-	0 sq km (1993)
Land boundaries	-	0 km
Land use	-	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: NA% other: NA%
Legal system	-	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply
Location	body of water between Africa, the Southern Ocean, Asia, and Australia	Southern Asia, archipelago in the Indian Ocean, about one-half the way from Africa to Indonesia
Map references	Political Map of the World	World
Maritime claims	-	exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 3 NM
Military - note	-	defense is the responsibility of the UK; the US lease on Diego Garcia expires in 2016
Natural hazards	occasional icebergs pose navigational hazard in southern reaches	NA
Natural resources	oil and gas fields, fish, shrimp, sand and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, polymetallic nodules	coconuts, fish, sugarcane
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 around the time of the construction of UK-US military facilities; in 1995, there were approximately 1,700 UK and US military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors living on the island of Diego Garcia
Ports and harbors	Chennai (Madras; India), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Durban (South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia), Kolkata (Calcutta; India) Melbourne (Australia), Mumbai (Bombay; India), Richards Bay (South Africa)	Diego Garcia
Radio broadcast stations	-	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 0 (1998)
Radios	-	NA
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: international telephone service is carried by satellite (2000)
Telephones - main lines in use	-	NA
Television broadcast stations	-	1 (1997)
Terrain	surface dominated by counterclockwise gyre (broad, circular system of currents) in the southern Indian Ocean; unique reversal of surface currents in the northern Indian Ocean; low atmospheric pressure over southwest Asia from hot, rising, summer air results in the southwest monsoon and southwest-to-northeast winds and currents, while high pressure over northern Asia from cold, falling, winter air results in the northeast monsoon and northeast-to-southwest winds and currents; ocean floor is dominated by the Mid-Indian Ocean Ridge and subdivided by the Southeast Indian Ocean Ridge, Southwest Indian Ocean Ridge, and Ninetyeast Ridge	flat and low (most areas do not exceed four meters in elevation)
Waterways	-	none

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