Peros Banhos - Geography

Geography

The atoll has a total area of 503 km², but a land area of only 13 km², made up by some 32 islets. 490 km², 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 neighboring Maldives. The diameter of the lagoon, known as Baie de Peros Banhos in French, is just above 20 km. The circling reef is sunken on its southeastern 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 that was settled permanently in Peros Banhos. Other important islands in the atoll which 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 northeastern corner of the atoll, is the island of the Chagos that is closest to the Maldives. The distance between Île Yeye and Gan Island (Addu Atoll) is 523 km.

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.