Editing Diego Garcia (section)

===Settlement of the island===
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 evidence exists of temporary French visits to collect coconuts and fish.<ref name="Edis_29">[[#Edis|Edis (2004)]], p. 29.</ref> 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.<ref name="Edis_29"/> The supplies of the 275 settlers were overwhelmed by 250 survivors of the wreck of the British East Indian Ship  ''Atlas'' in May, and the colony failed in October.<ref name="Edis_32">[[#Edis|Edis (2004)]], p. 32.</ref> Following the departure of the British, the French colony of Mauritius began marooning [[lepers]] on the island,<ref name="Edis_32"/> and in 1793, the French established a [[coconut]] plantation using [[Slavery|slave labour]], which exported, too, cordage made from coir (coconut fibre), and [[sea cucumber]]s as a far-eastern delicacy.<ref>[[#Edis|Edis (2004)]], p. 33.</ref>

Diego Garcia became a colony of the UK after the [[Napoleonic Wars]] as part of the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)]], and from 1814 to 1965 it was administered from Mauritius;<ref name="Edis 2004, p. 80"/> the main plantations were at East Point, the main settlement, Minni Minni, {{convert|4.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} north of East Point, and Pointe Marianne, on the western rim, all on the lagoon side of the atoll. The workers lived at each and at villages scattered around the atoll.

From 1881 until 1888, the atoll hosted two [[Fuelling station|coaling stations]] for [[steamships]] crossing the Indian Ocean.<ref name="Stoddart_209_218">D. R. Stoddart (1971): "Settlement and development of Diego Garcia". In: [[#Stoddart|Stoddart & Taylor (1971)]], pp. 209–218.</ref>

In 1882, the French-financed, Mauritian-based Société Huilière de Diego et de Peros (the "Oilmaking Company of Diego and Peros"), consolidated all the plantations in the Chagos under its control.<ref name="Stoddart_209_218"/>