Diego Garcia is a tropical, footprint-shaped coral atoll located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean.

Diego Garcia lies in the Chagos Archipelago at the southernmost tip of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge –&# 32 ; a vast submarine range in the Indian Ocean, topped by a long chain of coral reefs, atolls, and islands comprising Lakshadweep, Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago.

The US Navy operates Naval Support Facility ( NSF ) Diego Garcia, a large naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, communications and space-tracking facility, and an anchorage for pre-positioned military supplies for regional operations aboard Military Sealift Command ships in the lagoon.

Today, the exiled Chagossians are still fighting to return to their homeland, claiming that the forced expulsion and dispossession was illegal ( see Depopulation of Diego Garcia ).

Portuguese explorers may have been the first Europeans to discover the island of Diego Garcia.

The first map which identifies and names " Los Chagos " ( in about the right position ) is that of Pierre Desceliers ( Dieppe 1550 ), although Diego Garcia is not named.

The first map to delineate the island under its present name, Diego Garcia, is the World Map of Edward Wright ( London 1599 ), possibly as a result of misreading Dio ( or simply " D .") as Diego, and Gratia as Garcia.

Diego Garcia and the rest of the Chagos islands were uninhabited until the late 18th century.

In 1778 the French Governor of Mauritius granted Monsieur Dupuit de la Faye the island of Diego Garcia, and there is evidence of temporary French visits to collect coconuts and fish.

Several Frenchmen living in " a dozen huts " abandoned Diego Garcia when the British East India Company attempted to establish a settlement there in April 1786.

Following the departure of the British, the French colony of Mauritius began marooning lepers on Diego Garcia, and in 1793 the French established a coconut plantation using slave labour, which also exported cordage made from coconut fiber, and sea cucumbers, known as a delicacy in the orient.

On Diego Garcia, the main plantations were located at East Point, the main settlement on the eastern rim of the atoll ; Minni Minni, north of East Point ; and Pointe Marianne, on the western rim, all located on the lagoon side of the atoll rim.

From 1881 through 1888 Diego Garcia was the location of two coaling stations for steam ships crossing the Indian Ocean.

Barachois Maurice, Diego Garcia

In the early 1960s, the UK was withdrawing its military presence from the Indian Ocean area, not including the base at RAF Gan to the north of Diego Garcia in the Maldives ( which remained open until 1976 ), and agreed to permit the US to establish a Naval Communication Station on one of its island territories there.

The US requested an unpopulated island belonging to the UK to avoid political difficulties with newly-independent countries, and ultimately the UK and US agreed that Diego Garcia was a suitable location.

A paved road in Diego Garcia in the eastern restricted zone, home to the former plantations

To accomplish the UK / US mutual defense strategy, in November 1965, the UK purchased the Chagos Archipelago, which includes Diego Garcia, from the then self-governing colony of Mauritius for £ 3 million to create the British Indian Ocean Territory ( BIOT ), with the intent of ultimately closing the plantations to provide the uninhabited British territory from which the US would conduct its military activities in the region.

In March 1971, US Naval construction battalions ( Seabees ) arrived on Diego Garcia to begin the construction of the Communications Station and an airfield.

To satisfy the terms of an agreement between the UK and the US for an uninhabited island, the plantation on Diego Garcia was closed in October of that year.

In the early 1970s, setbacks to US military capabilities in the region including the fall of Saigon, victory of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the closure of the Peshawar Air Station listening post in Pakistan and Kagnew Station in Ethiopia, the Mayaguez incident, and the build-up of Soviet Naval presence in Aden and a Soviet Air Base at Berbera, Somalia, caused the US to request, and the UK to approve, permission to build a fleet anchorage and enlarged airfield on Diego Garcia, and the Seabees doubled the number of workers constructing these facilities.

In 1900 he moved to San Diego and became a prominent member and supporter of the Theosophical community Lomaland, which was being developed on Point Loma by Katherine Tingley.

Following the fall of the Shah of Iran and the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979 – 1980, the West became concerned with ensuring the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, and the US received permission for a $ 400 million expansion of the military facilities on Diego Garcia consisting of two parallel runways, expansive parking aprons for heavy bombers, 20 new anchorages in the lagoon, a deep water pier, port facilities for the largest naval vessels in the US or British fleet, aircraft hangars, maintenance buildings and an air terminal, a fuel storage area, and billeting and messing facilities for thousands of sailors and support personnel.

After he completed his studies, Bishop Martin Bazan and Prior Diego d ' Achebes appointed Dominic to the cathedral chapter and he became a regular canon under the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitutions for the cathedral church of Osma.

Mark Davis, the 1989 league leader in saves ( 44 ) and boasting a 1. 85 earned run average while earning the 1989 National League Cy Young winner and back-to-back All-Star selections ( 1988, 1989 ) with the San Diego Padres, became a free agent at the close of the 1989 season.

In modern times, the term became more well-known with the Mexican " muralista " art movement ( Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco ).

In the 12th century, under the impulse of bishop Diego Gelmírez, Compostela became an archbishopric, attracting a large and multinational population.

Jones became the first San Diego pitcher to win 20 games in 1975, going 20 – 12 in 37 outings as the Padres finished in fourth place with a 71 – 91 record, 37 games behind the Cincinnati Reds.

Defensive end Fred Dean and linebacker Jack " Hacksaw " Reynolds were big contributors up front, making it difficult for the opposing teams to rush the ball ; Dean became a 49er after an in-season trade with the San Diego Chargers and piled up 12 sacks for San Francisco.

Before the start of the 1994 season, San Diego was not expected to do well because they had so many newcomers via the draft and free agency ; the Chargers ended up 22 new players on their roster and 10 of them became starters.

The San Diego campus was founded as a marine station in 1912 and became UCSD in 1959.

The San Diego Zoological Society became interested in developing the Wild Animal Park in 1964.

While in San Diego he became a journalist for the Los Angeles Times as a special San Diego correspondent and also worked for San Diego Magazine and The San Diego Reader.

The Portuguese mariner Diego Dias became the first European to set foot on Madagascar when his ship, bound for India, blew off course in 1500.

Diego de Holguín became the first mayor of San Salvador after the town was founded on April 1, 1525.

After the failed effort to found Antigua del Darién in 1506 by Alonso de Ojeda and the subsequent unsuccessful founding of San Sebastián de Urabá in 1517 by Diego de Nicuesa, the southern Caribbean coast became unattractive to colonizers.

In 2004 Universidad Diego Portales became one of the first private universities to achieve institutional accreditation as a university from the National Undergraduate Accreditation Commission ( CNAP ) in three areas: Institutional Management, Undergraduate Teaching, and Equipment and Infrastructure.

The Heat became the first team since the 1968 – 69 San Diego Rockets to go from 15 wins to the playoffs in one year ( finished 43 – 39 ).

The San Diego franchise nickname became the " Rockets " due to the local development ( General Dynamics ) of the Atlas missile and booster rocket program.

CeCe became a champion horsewoman and then a horse trainer and horseback-riding instructor near San Diego, married a computer designer ( Stephen ), and has two sons and a daughter ( Connor, Ryan and Maddie ).

Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play sitar and in 1997 became a Regent's Lecturer at University of California, San Diego.

In 1970 Raymond A. Watt, a national award winning builder, purchased 3, 250 acres in the San Vicente Valley with the intent of building a new community that became San Diego Country Estates.