Why UK’s plan to cede the Chagos islands appears to be coming apart

Here’s a look at how the UK gained control over the archipelago, why the plan to cede it is on hold and how it has become a symbol of a deepening rift in US-Europe relations. What is the Chagos archipelago? The Chagos archipelago, comprising 58 islands, lies roughly 500 km to the south of the Maldives archipelago in the Indian Ocean and around 2,000 km north-east of Mauritius. These islands were uninhabited until the late 18th century, when the French brought in slave labour from Africa and India to work in newly established coconut plantations. In 1814, France ceded the…