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The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering 70,560,000 km 2 (27,240,000 sq mi) or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth's surface. [4] It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east.
The islands of the Indian Ocean are part of either the eastern, western, or southern areas. Some prominently large islands include Madagascar, Sri Lanka, and the Indonesian islands of Sumatra, Java, and Lesser Sunda Islands.
This list of sovereign states and dependent territories in the Indian Ocean consists of 38 countries, with 13 in Africa, 22 in Asia, and 1 in Oceania that either border on or are in the Indian Ocean, as well as 2 European countries which administer several dependencies or overseas territories in the region.
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia.The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands, many very small, amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 square miles). [3]
The principal divisions (in descending order of area) of the five oceans are the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Southern (Antarctic) Ocean, and Arctic Ocean. Smaller regions of the oceans are called seas, gulfs, bays, straits, and other terms. Geologically, an ocean is an area of oceanic crust covered by water.
The Chagos Archipelago of 70 tiny islands and atolls is located in the central Indian Ocean, about 1,500 km from the southern tip of India, 3,400 km due east of Africa and 3,000 km west of Indonesia. Politically, Chagos is constituted as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). [14]
The Chagos Marine Protected Area in the Indian Ocean was established in 2010 as a "no-take-zone". With a total surface area of 640,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi), it was the world's largest contiguous marine reserve.
This area of the Indian Ocean, alone, houses 1,100 species of fish, 5 species of sea turtle, 21 species of whale and dolphin, 400 species of mollusc, and 83 species of echinoderms. The area is also populated by a number of crustacean species: 120 copepods, 15 amphipods, as well as more than 145 crab and 48 shrimp species. [112]