Editing Tromelin Island

{{Short description|Disputed territory and island in the Indian Ocean}}
{{For|Tromelin Island in the Caroline Islands of the Pacific|Fais Island}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox country
|conventional_long_name = Tromelin Island
|native_name = {{native name|fr|Île Tromelin}}
|image_flag = Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.svg
|flag_caption = [[Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands]]
|alt_flag = Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
|image_coat = 
|symbol_type = Coat of arms
|national_motto = "[[Liberté, égalité, fraternité]]"
|national_anthem = ''[[La Marseillaise]]''
|largest_settlement = 
|official_languages = [[French language|French]]
|demonym = 
|sovereignty_type = {{nowrap|[[Overseas territory (France)|French Overseas Territory]]}}
|established_event1 = Discovered by Jean Marie Briand de la Feuillée
|established_date1 = 1722
|established_event2 = French claim to sovereignty
|established_date2 = 29&nbsp;November 1776
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|currency_code = EUR
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{{Infobox island
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 |name = 
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 |image_map = Iles eparses de l'ocean Indien.svg
 |map_caption = Location of Tromelin and other [[Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean]]
 |etymology = [[Jacques Marie Boudin de Tromelin de La Nuguy]]
 |location = [[Indian Ocean]]
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 |country_admin_divisions_title = [[Overseas territory (France)|Overseas territory]]
 |country_admin_divisions = [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]]
 |country_admin_divisions_title_1 = District
 |country_admin_divisions_1 = [[Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean]]
 |country1 = {{MUS}}
 |country1_admin_divisions_title = 
 |country1_admin_divisions = [[Outer Islands of Mauritius|Outer Islands]]
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[[File:Anchor of the Utile.jpg|thumb|Anchor of the wrecked frigate ''Utile'']]

'''Tromelin Island''' ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|t|r|oʊ|m|l|ɪ|n}}{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}; {{langx|fr|Île Tromelin}}, {{IPA|fr|il tʁɔmlɛ̃|pron}}), once called the '''Isle of Sand''', is a low, flat island in the [[Indian Ocean]] about {{nowrap|{{convert|500|km|mi nmi|abbr=on}}}} north of [[Réunion]] and about {{nowrap|{{convert|450|km|mi nmi|abbr=on}}}} east of [[Madagascar]]. Tromelin is part of the [[Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean]], the fifth district of the [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]], a [[Overseas territory (France)|French Overseas Territory]], but [[Mauritius]] claims sovereignty over the island.

Tromelin has facilities for scientific expeditions and a weather station.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=[no title cited] |magazine=New Scientist |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lz4eAQAAMAAJ |date=14 January 1995 |volume=145 |page=10}}{{full citation needed |date=July 2020}}</ref> It is a nesting site for birds and [[green sea turtle]]s.

==Etymology==
The island is named in honour of [[Jacques Marie Boudin de Tromelin de La Nuguy]], captain of the French corvette  {{ship|French corvette|Dauphine|1773|2}}. He arrived at the island on 29&nbsp;November 1776, and rescued eight stranded enslaved [[Malagasy language|Malagasy]] people who had been on the island for 15 years.<ref name=annexe2>{{cite book |title=Annexe 2. Biographie de Jacques Marie Boudin de Tromelin, seigneur de Lanuguy |url=https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/27934?lang=en  |series = Histoire|date = 28 November 2019|pages = 245–261|publisher = CNRS Éditions| doi=10.4000/books.editionscnrs.27814 |isbn = 9782271130426|access-date=24 April 2020 | last1=Guérout | first1=Max }}</ref>

==Description==
[[File:Tromelin-topo.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|Map of Tromelin Island.]]
[[File:Tromelin station2.JPG|thumb|Present settlement on Tromelin Island.]]

Tromelin is situated in the [[Mascarene Basin]] and is part of the [[Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean|Îles Éparses]]. It is currently only {{convert|7|m|ft|abbr=on}} high.<ref name="Marriner-1">{{Cite journal |last1=Marriner |first1=Nick |display-authors=etal |year=2012 |title=A geomorphological reconnaissance of Tromelin Island, Indian Ocean |journal=Journal of Coastal Research |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=1606–1616 |url=https://www.academia.edu/11161927 |doi=10.2112/JCOASTRES-D-11-00029.1|s2cid=128621103 }}</ref> It formed as a volcano,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fisher |first1=Robert L. |last2=Johnson |first2=George L. |last3=Heezen |first3=Bruce C. |year=1967 |title=Mascarene Plateau, Western Indian Ocean |journal=GSA Bulletin |volume=78 |issue=10 |pages=1247–1266 |publisher=Geological Society of America |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1967)78[1247:MPWIO]2.0.CO;2|bibcode=1967GSAB...78.1247F }}</ref><ref name="Marriner-2"/> now eroded, and developed an [[atoll]] ring of coral.<ref name="Marriner-1"/>

Tromelin is about {{convert|1700|m|mi|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|700|m|mi|abbr=on}} wide, with an area of {{convert|80|ha|acre|abbr=off}}, covered in scrub dominated by [[Heliotropium foertherianum|octopus bush]]<ref name="bli"/> and surrounded by [[coral reef]]s.<ref name="Marriner-1"/><ref name="Sailing-Directions-1945">{{cite book |chapter=Chapter&nbsp;III: Islands and Banks East of Madagascar |title=Sailing Directions for the South Indian Ocean, Madagascar and the Islands West of Longitude 90°&nbsp;East |year=1945 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=124 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44sNAQAAIAAJ }}</ref> Access by sea is quite difficult as there are no harbours and the only anchorage, to the northwest of the island, is poorly situated.<ref name="Sailing-Directions-1945"/> The best, but by no means ideal, landing area is on the east side of the northern peninsula.<ref name="Sailing-Directions-1945"/> A {{nowrap|1,200-m}} {{nowrap|(3,900-ft)}} [[airstrip]] provides a link with the outside world.<ref>{{cite book |title=Atoll Research Bulletin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hglNAQAAMAAJ |year=1951 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>

== Fauna and flora ==
Flora are poorly developed due to weather conditions and lack of fresh water. With the exception of two or three months in summer, this flat island is swept day and night by heavy winds that are sustained in winter. In summer, it can suffer the onslaught of cyclones and tropical storms.

There is only grass and brush (low shrubs) present on the island. Veloutaries (''[[Heliotropium foertherianum]]'') and purslane (''[[Portulaca oleracea]]''), with growth shaped by dominant east winds, are present everywhere on the island.

The fauna consist mainly of [[hermit crabs]] (Paguroidea), seabirds, and sea turtles for which the island is an important nesting place. The green turtle (''[[Chelonia mydas]]'') is mainly encountered and, to a lesser extent, the [[hawksbill sea turtle]].

The waters are rich with fish. The French Coral Reef Initiative (IFRECOR) has identified 26 species of corals. [[wikt:allochthonous|Allochthonous]] species were introduced on the island during the various shipwrecks: rats, mice and rabbits. The latter were decimated in [[Cyclone Erinesta (1986)|1986 by cyclone Erinesta]].

===Important bird area===
The island has been identified as an [[Important Bird Area]] (IBA) by [[BirdLife International]] because of its significance as a [[bird colony|seabird breeding site]]. Both [[masked booby|masked]] (with up to 250&nbsp;pairs) and [[red-footed booby|red-footed boobies]] (up to 180 pairs) nest on the island. [[Sulidae]] populations have seriously declined in the western Indian Ocean with those on Tromelin among the healthiest remaining.

The island's [[masked boobies]] are of the western Indian Ocean subspecies (''Sula dactylatra melanops''), of which Tromelin is a stronghold.<ref name="boobies">{{cite book |title=African Wildlife |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-59LAQAAIAAJ |year=1974 |publisher=Wildlife Society of Southern Africa}}</ref> The red-footed boobies constitute the only polymorphic population in the region, indicating its biogeographical isolation. Both [[great frigatebird|great]] and [[lesser frigatebird]]s used to nest on the island. The breeding populations of both birds had been [[Local extinction|extirpated]], though that has changed.

Invasive rats that arrived on Tromelin Island centuries ago with the wreck of a slave ship<ref name="economist">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21683979-what-happened-when-slaves-and-free-men-were-shipwrecked-together-lu00e8se |title=Lèse humanité |newspaper=The Economist |date=16 December 2015 |access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref> decimated the island's seabird population.<ref name="cb">{{cite web |publisher=Society for Conservation Biology |series=Conservation Science and Practice |year=2024 |title=Long-term monitoring highlights the positive responses of the seabird community to rat eradication at Tromelin Island, Western Indian Ocean |doi=10.1111/csp2.13083 |url=https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.13083 |access-date=2024-02-05 |df=dmy-all |last1=Saunier |first1=Merlène |last2=Amy |first2=Maxime |last3=Baumann |first3=Michaël |last4=Bignon |first4=Florent |last5=Cartraud |first5=Audrey |last6=d'Orchymont |first6=Quentin |last7=Gazal |first7=Julien |last8=Goguelat |first8=Antoine |last9=Lemenager |first9=Marc |last10=Marinesque |first10=Sophie |last11=Orlowski |first11=Sabine |last12=Manuelian |first12=Pierre Etienne |last13=Le Corre |first13=Matthieu |volume=6 |issue=2 |bibcode=2024ConSP...6E3083S }}</ref>  By the time eradication efforts began in 2005, only two booby species remained. Despite the lack of any active restoration actions after the eradication of rats, and the remoteness of the island, 17 years after rat eradication, the seabird community increased from two to seven breeding species, and from 353 to 4758 breeding pairs (total for all species).<ref name="hakai">{{cite web |publisher=Hakai Institute |year=2024 |title=Tromelin Island's Impressive Comeback |url=http://www.birdlife.org |access-date=2024-05-18 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Unlike seabirds, there are no resident landbirds on Tromelin Island.<ref name="bli">{{cite web |publisher=BirdLife International |year=2012 |series=Important Bird Areas factsheet |title=Tromelin |url=http://www.birdlife.org |access-date=2012-01-07 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Tromelin aerial photograph.JPG|thumb|Aerial view]]
The island was discovered by France in the 1720s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/11/the-recovery-of-tromelin-island/ |title=The Recovery of Tromelin Island |first1=James |last1=Russell |date=11 April 2016 |website=National Geographic Society (blogs) |access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref><ref name="AgencyOffice2016">{{cite book |publisher=United States Central Intelligence Agency |department=Government Publications Office |title=The World Factbook 2016–2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HfywxU2EnFwC&pg=PA269 |date=18 August 2016 |via=Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-093327-1 |pages=269ff}}</ref> It was recorded by the French navigator Jean Marie Briand de la Feuillée and named ''Île de Sable'' ("Isle of Sand").<ref name="LRM">{{cite web |url=http://ifm.free.fr/htmlpages/pdf/2007/477-4-esclaves.pdf |title=La Revue Maritime N°&nbsp;477 |date=December 2006 |publisher=Institut Français de la Mer |place=Paris, FR |website=Ifm.free.fr |access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref>

===Wreck of the ship ''Utile''===
On 31&nbsp;July 1761{{sfnp|Guérout|2015|p=27}} the French ship ''Utile'' ("Useful"), a frigate of the [[French Indies Company|French East India Company]], chartered by [[Jean-Joseph de Laborde]] and commanded by Captain Jean de&nbsp;La Fargue, transporting slaves from [[Madagascar]] to [[Mauritius]] in contravention of Mauritian law, ran onto the reefs of the island.<ref name="economist">{{cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21683979-what-happened-when-slaves-and-free-men-were-shipwrecked-together-lu00e8se |title=Lèse humanité |newspaper=The Economist |date=16 December 2015 |access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref> The ship had departed [[Bayonne]] in France with 142&nbsp;men. After a stopover on Mauritius (then called the [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]]), the ship embarked 160&nbsp;Malagasy men, women, and children at [[Mahavelona|Foulpointe]], on the east coast of Madagascar, to bring them into slavery on Mauritius, despite the prohibition of trafficking decreed by the governor. A navigation error, due to the use of two conflicting charts, caused the vessel to wreck on the reefs of Tromelin Island (then called the ''Isle of Sand''). The ship was a frigate, not a slave ship, and thus was not equipped with the shackles and chains usually found on slave ships.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=Tromelin, l'île aux esclaves oubliés |author1=Guérout, Romon |author2=Max, Thomas |publisher=CNRS Editions |year=2015 |location=France}}</ref>

After the wreck, the crew and about 60&nbsp;Malagasy people managed to reach the island, but the rest of the slaves, locked in the hold, drowned. The crew retrieved various equipment, food and wood from the wreckage. They dug a well, providing drinking water, and fed on salvaged food, turtles, and seabirds.<ref name=":0"/>

Captain Jean de&nbsp;Lafargue lost his mind as a result of the wreck, and was replaced by his first lieutenant, second-in-command, Barthelemy Castellan du&nbsp;Vernet who lost his brother Leon in the shipwreck. Castellan built two camps, one for the crew and one for the slaves, a forge and an oven, and with the materials recovered from the wreckage, began construction of a boat.<ref name=":0"/> On 27&nbsp;September 1761, a contingent of 122&nbsp;French sailors (crew and officers) left Tromelin aboard the ''Providence''. They left the surviving slaves – 60&nbsp;[[Malagasy people|Malagasy]] men and women – on the desert island, promising to return and rescue them.<ref name="economist"/>

The sailors reached Madagascar in just over four days and, after a stopover in Foulpointe, where men died of tropical diseases, were transferred to Réunion Island (then named ''Bourbon Island''), and then to Mauritius (then called the ''Isle de&nbsp;France''). When the crew of the ship reached Mauritius, they requested that colonial authorities send a ship to rescue the Malagasy slaves on the island. However, they met with a categorical refusal from the governor, with the justification that France was fighting the [[Seven Years' War]] and thus no ship could be spared, the island of Mauritius being itself under threat of attack from [[Company rule in India|British India]].<ref name="independent">{{cite web |title=Shipwrecked and abandoned: The story of the slave Crusoes |date=5 February 2007 |website=Independent.co.uk |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/shipwrecked-and-abandoned-the-story-of-the-slave-crusoes-435092.html |access-date=26 August 2017}}</ref>

Castellan left Mauritius (''Isle de&nbsp;France'') to return to France in 1762 and never gave up hope to one day return to the Isle of Sand to save the Malagasy people. The news of the castaway slaves got published and stirred the Parisian intellectual milieu; later, the episode was all but forgotten with the end of the Seven Years' War and the bankruptcy of the East India Company.<ref name=":0"/>

In 1773, a ship passing close to Tromelin Island located the slaves and reported them to the authorities of Isle de&nbsp;France. A boat was sent, but this first rescue failed, as the ship could not approach the island. A year later, a second ship, ''Sauterelle'', also failed to reach the island. During this second failed rescue, a sailor managed to swim to the island, but he had to be abandoned by the ship due to bad weather. This sailor remained on Tromelin Island and, some time later, probably around 1775, built a raft on which he embarked with three men and three women, but which disappeared at sea.<ref name=":0"/>

It was not until 29&nbsp;November 1776, 15 years after the sinking, that Ensign [[Jacques Marie Boudin de Tromelin de La Nuguy|Tromelin-Lanuguy]], captain of the corvette [[French corvette Dauphine (1773)|''Dauphine'']],<ref name=annexe2/> reached Tromelin Island and rescued the survivors – seven women and an eight-month-old child.<ref name="Marriner-2">{{cite journal |last1=Marriner |first1=Nick |last2=Guérout |first2=Max |last3=Romon |first3=Thomas |year=2010 |title=The forgotten slaves of Tromelin (Indian Ocean): New geoarchaeological data |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=37 |issue=6 |pages=1293–1304 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2009.12.032|bibcode=2010JArSc..37.1293M }}</ref><ref name="independent"/> Upon arriving there, Tromelin-Lanuguy discovered that the survivors were dressed in plaited feather clothes and that they had managed, during all these years, to keep a fire lit (the island did not have a single tree). The Malagasy people, who had been left on the bleak little island, built a shed with coral stones, for most of the wood had been used in the construction of the raft for the crew. They also built a lookout on the highest point of the island in order not to miss the ship that would, they hoped, come to their rescue. They were all from the [[Central Highlands (Madagascar)|Central Highlands]] of Madagascar, and had no knowledge of how to produce food in the coastal environment. Most had died within the first few months on the island.<ref name="LRM"/> The survivors remained with Jacques Maillart, governor of Mauritius (''Isle de&nbsp;France''), who declared them free and offered to bring them back to Madagascar, which they refused.<ref name=":0"/> Maillart decided to baptize the child Jacques Moyse (Moses), on the day of his arrival in Port-Louis on 15&nbsp;December 1776, and to rename his mother Eve (her Malagasy name was Semiavou) and to do the same with the child's grandmother, whom he called Dauphine after the name of the corvette that rescued them.<ref name=":0"/> The trio was welcomed in the house of the intendant of Mauritius (''Isle de&nbsp;France''). Tromelin was the first to precisely describe the island that now bears his name.<ref name=":0"/>

In 1781 the [[Marquis de Condorcet]] recounted the tragedy of the castaways of Tromelin, to illustrate the inhumanity of the slave trade, in his book ''Reflections on the Slavery of Negroes'' advocating the abolition of slavery.<ref name=":0"/>

=== Expedition "Forgotten slaves" ===
An archeological expedition entitled "Forgotten Slaves", led by Max Guérout, a former French naval officer and director of operations of the Naval Archeology Research Group, and Thomas Romon, archaeologist at INRAP (National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research), took place from October to November&nbsp;2006, under the patronage of UNESCO and the French Committee for the History and Remembrance of Slavery (CPMHE). The results of the research were made public on 17&nbsp;January 2007. The ten members of the expedition probed the wreck of ''Utile'', and searched the island for traces of shipwreck, in order to better understand the living conditions of the Malagasy people during these fifteen years.<ref name=":0"/>
According to Max Guérout, head of the mission, "In three days, a well 5 meters [16.5 feet] deep was dug. This represented a considerable effort. We found many bones of birds, turtles, and fish." One does not have the impression that these people were crushed by their condition. They tried to survive with order and method."<ref name=":0"/>

An anonymous logbook, attributed to a writer of the crew, was found. Basements made of beach sandstone and coral were also found (the survivors thus transgressed a Malagasy custom according to which stone constructions were reserved for tombs). There were also six copper bowls and a pebble used to sharpen knives. The fire was maintained for fifteen years, thanks to the wood from the wreck, the island being devoid of trees.<ref name=":0"/>

A second expedition, organized in November&nbsp;2008, did not reveal the burials observed in 1851 by an English naval officer. However, the remains of two bodies displaced during the digging of the foundations of a building of the weather station have been uncovered. Three buildings built with coral blocks have been discovered, including the kitchen, which was still equipped with kitchen utensils, and in particular copper containers that had been repaired several times, testifying to the Malagasy's determination to survive.<ref name=":0"/>

A third archaeological mission took place in November&nbsp;2010. It allowed the discovery of three new buildings and many objects, including two tinder lighters and flints, which elucidated the technique used by the castaways to rekindle the fire.<ref name=":0"/>

The fourth expedition took place in September–October&nbsp;2013. It lasted for 45&nbsp;days, and enabled the identification of many tools and shelters, as well as the layout of the site.<ref name=":0"/>

In 2016, an exhibition presenting the results of the various excavation campaigns, entitled "Tromelin, the island of forgotten slaves", was presented jointly in metropolitan France and in the DROM: At the Stella Matutina Museum in Saint-Leu (La&nbsp;Réunion), the castle of the Dukes of Brittany in Nantes, the House of Agglomeration of Lorient, the Aquitaine Museum in Bordeaux, the departmental museum of archeology and prehistory of Martinique in Fort-de-France, and finally to the Basque Museum of the History of Bayonne from June to November&nbsp;2017.

===Sovereignty claims===
Tromelin is administered as part of the [[French Southern and Antarctic Lands]], a [[Overseas territory (France)|French Overseas Territory]], but [[Mauritius]] claims sovereignty over the island despite its absence in the listing of the 8th article of the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|1814 Treaty of Paris]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1814)#ART.VIII |title=Treaty of Paris |date=1814 |at=Art.&nbsp;VIII |quote=«''His Britannic majesty stipulating for himself and his allies, engages to restore to his most Christian majesty, within the term which shall be hereafter fixed, the colonies, fisheries, factories, and establishments of every kind, which were possessed by France on the 1&nbsp;January 1792, in the seas and on the continents of America, Africa, and Asia, with the exception however of the islands of Tobago and St.&nbsp;Lucie, and of the Isle of France and its dependencies, especially Rodrigues and Les Sechelles, which several colonies and possessions his most Christian majesty cedes in full right and sovereignty to his Britannic majesty, and also the portion of St.&nbsp;Domingo ceded to France by the treaty of Basle, and which his most Christian majesty restores in full right and sovereignty to his Catholic majesty''»}}</ref> Indeed, the treaty does not specifically mention all the dependencies of Mauritius, which leads to uncertainty on the sovereignty of Tromelin, and the official text was that written in French. During the [[British Mauritius|British period of Mauritius]], France administered the island as a dependency of the [[regions of France|region]] of [[Réunion]] and built infrastructure without British protest. France and Mauritius have been negotiating for years in regard to the possible establishment of a [[Condominium (international law)|condominium]] over the island. In 2010, Mauritius and France reached an agreement on the co-management of Tromelin, without prejudice to the sovereignty of Mauritius over Tromelin.

The French claim to sovereignty dates from 29&nbsp;November 1776,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.taaf.fr/spip/spip.php?article314 |title=Ce n'est que quinze ans plus tard, le 29&nbsp;novembre 1776, que le chevalier de Tromelin récupérera huit esclaves survivants : sept femmes et un enfant de huit mois. Le pavillon français fut planté sur l'île qui fut ainsi nommée Tromelin en hommage à ce chevalier |via=archive.org |access-date=2017-08-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131101103/http://www.taaf.fr/spip/spip.php?article314 |archive-date=2012-01-31}}</ref> the date that the ship ''Dauphine'' arrived.

The Mauritian claim to sovereignty is based on the fact that the island must have been ceded to [[United Kingdom]] by the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|treaty of Paris in 1814]] and should not continue to be administered by France as a dependency of [[Réunion]].

The [[United Nations]] never recognized the Mauritian sovereignty over Tromelin. In 1954, France constructed a meteorological station and a landing strip on the island.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Jonathan I. |last1=Charney |first2=David A. |last2=Colson |first3=Lewis M. |last3=Alexander |title=International Maritime Boundaries |year=2005 |page=3463 |publisher=Martinus Nijhoff Publishers |isbn=9004144617 }}</ref>

It is a matter of dispute whether the building agreement transferred sovereignty of Tromelin from one to the other, and Mauritius claims the island as part of its territory, on the grounds that France did not retain its sovereignty over the island in 1814, which was ''de facto'' part of the colony of Mauritius at the time of independence.<ref>{{cite book |first=Vivian Louis |last=Forbes |title=The maritime boundaries of the Indian Ocean region |year=1995 |page=110 |publisher=Singapore University Press |isbn=9971691892 }}</ref> Indeed, as early as 1959, even before independence, Mauritius informed the [[World Meteorological Organization]] that it considered Tromelin to be part of its territory.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Dennis |last1=Rumley |first2=Sanjay |last2=Chaturvedi |first3=Vijay |last3=Sakhuja |title=Fisheries Exploitation in the Indian Ocean: Threats and Opportunities |year=2010 |page=123 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=9789812309860 }}</ref> A co-management treaty was reached by France and Mauritius in 2010,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lequotidien.re/opinion/le-courrier-des-lecteurs/116747-tromelin-la-reunion-spectatrice-et-spoliee.html |title=Tromelin : La Réunion, spectatrice et spoliée |publisher=Lequotidien.re |access-date=15 December 2011 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010191415/http://www.lequotidien.re/opinion/le-courrier-des-lecteurs/116747-tromelin-la-reunion-spectatrice-et-spoliee.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> but has not been ratified.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files/mauritius/|title = Mauritius}}</ref>

Tromelin has an [[Exclusive Economic Zone]] (EEZ) of {{convert|280,000|km2|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}, contiguous with that of [[Réunion]]. The island's autonomous [[weather station]], which warns of [[cyclone]]s, is still operated by France and is supported by personnel from the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF). Staff are rotated every three months through resupply missions mounted from Réunion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.defense.gouv.fr/marine/actualites/lastrolabe-assure-soutien-releve-tromelin |title=L'Astrolabe assure le soutien et la relève de Tromelin |website=Marine Nationale |date=24 June 2024 |access-date=26 June 2024 }}</ref>

==Climate==
Tromelin Island has a [[tropical savanna climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification]] ''Aw''). The average annual temperature in Tromelin is {{cvt|26.7|C}}. The average annual rainfall is {{cvt|1073.7|mm}} with February as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in February, at around {{cvt|28.7|C}}, and lowest in August, at around {{convert|24.3|C}}. The highest temperature ever recorded in Tromelin was {{cvt|36.3|C}} on 1 January 1983; the coldest temperature ever recorded was {{cvt|17.4|C}} on 12 July 1964.
{{Weather box
|location = Tromelin Island (1991–2020 averages, records 1955–present)
|metric first = yes
|single line = yes
|Jan record high C = 36.3
|Feb record high C = 34.9
|Mar record high C = 34.4
|Apr record high C = 33.3
|May record high C = 31.6
|Jun record high C = 30.0
|Jul record high C = 28.5
|Aug record high C = 28.8
|Sep record high C = 29.6
|Oct record high C = 31.7
|Nov record high C = 33.8
|Dec record high C = 33.9
|year record high C = 36.3
|Jan high C = 31.2
|Feb high C = 31.3
|Mar high C = 31.0
|Apr high C = 30.3
|May high C = 29.1
|Jun high C = 27.4
|Jul high C = 26.4
|Aug high C = 26.6
|Sep high C = 27.1
|Oct high C = 28.2
|Nov high C = 29.5
|Dec high C = 30.7
|year high C = 29.1
|Jan mean C = 28.6
|Feb mean C = 28.7
|Mar mean C = 28.6
|Apr mean C = 28.0
|May mean C = 26.9
|Jun mean C = 25.3
|Jul mean C = 24.3
|Aug mean C = 24.3
|Sep mean C = 24.7
|Oct mean C = 25.7
|Nov mean C = 26.9
|Dec mean C = 28.1
|year mean C = 26.7
|Jan low C = 26.0
|Feb low C = 26.2
|Mar low C = 26.1
|Apr low C = 25.7
|May low C = 24.7
|Jun low C = 23.1
|Jul low C = 22.1
|Aug low C = 22.0
|Sep low C = 22.3
|Oct low C = 23.2
|Nov low C = 24.3
|Dec low C = 25.5
|year low C = 24.3
|Jan record low C = 20.5
|Feb record low C = 22.3
|Mar record low C = 20.9
|Apr record low C = 20.8
|May record low C = 19.5
|Jun record low C = 18.1
|Jul record low C = 17.4
|Aug record low C = 17.8
|Sep record low C = 18.0
|Oct record low C = 18.2
|Nov record low C = 19.6
|Dec record low C = 20.5
|year record low C = 17.4
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 136.0
|Feb precipitation mm = 185.9
|Mar precipitation mm = 155.1
|Apr precipitation mm = 142.7
|May precipitation mm = 68.5
|Jun precipitation mm = 60.3
|Jul precipitation mm = 69.2
|Aug precipitation mm = 48.4
|Sep precipitation mm = 50.0
|Oct precipitation mm = 31.8
|Nov precipitation mm = 42.7
|Dec precipitation mm = 83.1
|year precipitation mm = 1073.7
|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 12.9
|Feb precipitation days = 14.0
|Mar precipitation days = 14.2
|Apr precipitation days = 13.0
|May precipitation days = 10.4
|Jun precipitation days = 11.2
|Jul precipitation days = 13.6
|Aug precipitation days = 11.4
|Sep precipitation days = 10.1
|Oct precipitation days = 7.4
|Nov precipitation days = 6.1
|Dec precipitation days = 9.4
|year precipitation days = 133.6
|source 1 = [[Météo France]]<ref>{{cite web
| title=Tromelin (984)
| series=Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records
| publisher=Meteo France
| language=fr
| url=https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/FichesClim/FICHECLIM_98403004.pdf
| access-date=26 February 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180227001813/https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/FichesClim/FICHECLIM_98403004.pdf
| archive-date=27 February 2018}}</ref>
}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Tromelin}}

* {{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/shipwrecked-and-abandoned-the-story-of-the-slave-crusoes-435092.html |title=Shipwrecked and abandoned: the story of the slave Crusoes |first=John |last=Lichfield |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |date=5 February 2007}}
* {{cite magazine |url=https://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21683979-what-happened-when-slaves-and-free-men-were-shipwrecked-together-lu00e8se?fsrc=scn/tw/te/rfd/pe?fsrc=scn/fb/te/pe/ed/lsehumanit |title=Lèse humanité: What happened when slaves and free men were shipwrecked together |magazine=The Economist |date=19 December 2015}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.navegar-es-preciso.com/news/tromelin-la-isla-de-la-resiliencia-humana/ |title=Tromelin, la isla de los malgaches resilentes |language=es |website=navegar-es-preciso.com}}
* {{cite book |last1=Guérout |first1=Max |title=Tromelin, Mémoire d'une Ile |year=2015 |publisher=CNRS Éditions |location=Paris |pages=278 |url=https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/27814 |via=openedition.org |doi=10.4000/books.editionscnrs.27814|isbn=9782271086662 }}
* {{cite web |last1=Stark |first1=Eloise |title=How an 18th-Century Shipwreck Changed France's Conversation About Race |url=https://newlinesmag.com/essays/how-an-18th-century-shipwreck-changed-frances-conversation-about-race/ |website=New Lines Magazine |date=22 March 2024 |access-date=31 March 2024}}

{{French overseas departments and territories}}
{{Important Bird Areas of French Southern Territories}}
{{Outlying territories of European countries}}
{{Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Tromelin Island| ]]
[[Category:Uninhabited islands of Madagascar]]
[[Category:Uninhabited islands of Mauritius]]
[[Category:Uninhabited islands of Seychelles]]
[[Category:Uninhabited islands of France]]
[[Category:Islands of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands]]
[[Category:Disputed islands of Seychelles]]
[[Category:Disputed territories in Africa]]
[[Category:Territorial disputes of France]]
[[Category:Territorial disputes of Madagascar]]
[[Category:Territorial disputes of Mauritius]]
[[Category:France–Madagascar relations]]
[[Category:France–Mauritius relations]]
[[Category:Important Bird Areas of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean]]
[[Category:Sandy islands]]
[[Category:Geography of East Africa]]
[[Category:Seabird colonies|Tromelin]]