Diego Garcia, a small atoll in the Indian Ocean, has played a pivotal role in global geopolitics. Its strategic importance, coupled with the controversial

The U.K. has agreed to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, in a deal to secure the future of a strategically important U.

Mauritius is getting sovereignty over the remote Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but Britain will continue to administer the strategically crucial island of Diego Garcia for another century, preserving the Anglo-American joint base on

Britain said on Thursday it would cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal it said secured the future of the UK-U.S. Diego Garcia military base, and which could also pave the way for people displaced decades ago to return home.

The geographical centrality of the Chagos archipelago makes Britains plans to hand over the islands to Mauritius worthy of a closer look.

Washington said the deal protected the long-term, secure and effective operation of the strategic military base.

While the UK and US retain a key strategic military base in the Indian Ocean, the two governments remain apprehensive over the security of the island.

Britain on Thursday said it would give up sovereignty of a remote Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius but will maintain there a strategic military base that it shares with the United States, in what US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement".