History
There was once a coconut plantation in Ile Aigle, as well as a small settlement of Chagossian plantation workers. But at the time of Commander Robert Moresby's survey of the Chagos, in 1838, this island was populated only occasionally. Not long after the settlement of the Chagos group by the French planters at the end of the 18th century, the tendency was to concentrate the workers on only a few islands from which the plantations were run, like Ile Boddam in the Salomon Atoll.
In 1975 during the Joint Services Expedition to Danger Island (JSDI), the expedition members were taken by RFA Resurgent to Eagle Islands and then by ketch and inflatable craft to Danger Island and onward to Three Brothers. The expedition made a topographical survey of the coral reefs, an ecological survey of the corals on it and a study on the metabolism of the reef. A reference collection of samples of the flora and fauna of the area was also undertaken.
Since 1998 the islands are part of the Chagos Archipelago Strict Nature Reserve and it is forbidden to land on the islands or anchor a boat nearby. The islands have large populations of nesting seabirds.
Read more about this topic: Eagle Islands
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“We may pretend that we’re basically moral people who make mistakes, but the whole of history proves otherwise.”
—Terry Hands (b. 1941)
“We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.”
—Milan Kundera (b. 1929)
“The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.”
—Ben C. Bradlee (b. 1921)