Peros Banhos - History

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 another 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 which ran aground and was smashed on the Peros Banhos reefs in 1556.

165 survivors were left on a flat sandy island of Peros Banhos before coconut trees were there; among them were two women and five Catholic priests. 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, the Ilois, were workers in the coconut plantations and in the oil-producing industry. The Ilois were Christian and 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. There is a small bushy island called Île Diable on the NW of the atoll. The name of this islet suggests that there were some local folkloric beliefs.

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 expelled by the British Government and sent to live in Mauritius. More recently, the islands have been investigated as a possible location for resettlement, although access is currently prohibited.