Editing Peros Banhos (section)

==History==
[[File:Retrato de Afonso de Albuquerque (após 1545) - Autor desconhecido.png|200px|thumb|[[Afonso de Albuquerque]], the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] navigator who [[Age of Discovery|discovered]] Peros Banhos]]

Peros Banhos was discovered in 1513 by [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] navigator [[Afonso de Albuquerque]]. The name of this atoll derives from "Pêro dos Banhos", the name of another Portuguese navigator{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} who died there after his ship ran aground on this atoll.{{when|date=November 2011}}

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 Empire|Portuguese]] ship ''Conceição'' under captain Francisco Nobre that ran aground and was smashed on the Peros Banhos reefs in 1556.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pedroalmeidavieira.com/?p/785/3087/3602/H/3602/3601/ |title=António Sérgio, ''História Trágico-Marítima'', Livraria Sá da Costa, 1934 |publisher=Pedroalmeidavieira.com |access-date=2014-02-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093707/http://www.pedroalmeidavieira.com/?p%2F785%2F3087%2F3602%2FH%2F3602%2F3601%2F |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
165 survivors were left on a flat sandy island of Peros Banhos before [[coconut tree]]s 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 [[egg (biology)|eggs]] on the beach of that island.<ref>Bernardo Gomes de Brito. ''Historia Tragico Maritima. Em que se escrevem chronologicamente os Naufragios que tiverao as Naos de Portugal, depois que se poz em exercicio a Navegaçao da India.'' Lisboa 1735
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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 language|Creole]] version of French, known as [[Chagossian Creole]]. 

There is a small bushy island called Île Diable on the NW of the atoll.

[[Moresby Island (Peros Banhos)|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 [[Royal Navy|Indian Navy]].

In 1970, the [[Depopulation of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago|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.

In February 2022, exiled islanders made their first unsupervised visit to the island, following [[British Indian Ocean Territory#International rulings|international court rulings]] and a majority vote in the [[UN General Assembly]]. Prime Minister of Mauritius, [[Pravind Jugnauth]], said this was not to embarrass the UK, but "merely an exercise of our sovereignty over part of our territory and that is in accordance with international law."<ref name=observer-20220213>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/12/exiled-chagos-islanders-return-uk-disputed-archipelago-mauritius |title=Exiled Chagos Islanders bask in return 'as pilgrims to abandoned place' |last1=Bowcott |first1=Owen |last2=Rinvolucri |first2=Bruno |newspaper=The Observer |date=13 February 2022 |access-date=13 February 2022}}</ref>