The Chagos Archive is an online collection of original documents, photographs, film and videos, and other materials documenting the history of the Chagossian exile and the US military base on Diego Garcia. Most of the materials come from archives including: The British Library; Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; National Archives of Mauritius; Seychelles National Archives; UK National Archives, US National Archives and Records Administration; US Navy Archives. Additional materials come from individual Chagossians and others.
Note that almost all the documents in The Chagos Archive are hosted on another web-based platform. You can access those documents automatically by clicking on the “The Archive” pull-down menu at the top of the page and then clicking on “Documents.”
All materials that are part of The Chagos Archive are available for free use, although we ask you to credit “The Chagos Archive (www.chagosarchive.org).” If you have concerns about any materials in The Chagos Archive, including if you believe any materials were posted without proper permission or credit, please email vine@american.edu.
The Chagos Archive is especially thankful to people who have contributed materials. Many of these materials required many days and weeks of research to uncover. Contributors include the Chagos Refugees Group, Olivier Bancoult, and Sabrina Jean; Richard Dunne; Richard Gifford; Sivakumaren Robin Mardemootoo; the late David Stoddart; UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Law Clinic at American University’s Washington College of Law, Michael Tigar, and Ali Beydoun; and David Vine.
To submit new materials to The Chagos Archive, please click here or email vine@american.edu.
Background image (“Absolutely Must Go”) credit: Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., attachment to E. L. Cochrane, Jr., “Memorandum for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Plans and Policy),” March 24, 1971. U.S. Navy Archives, 00 Files, 1971, Box 174, 11000.
This is the preliminary, beta version of the English language Chagos Archive site. French and Kreol versions of the site will be available after a formal launch planned for fall 2022.