Diego Garcia is an atoll of the Chagos Archipelago, just south of the equator. It is the island with the largest landmass in the archipelago. Today, the archipelago is the only settled place in the British Indian Ocean Territory. The Portuguese discovered it, and the French settled it in the 1790s. It used to be part of Mauritius. After the Napoleonic Wars, Mauritius became a British colony. Diego Garcia is south of Gan Island, the southernmost island of the Maldives. It is east of Paislin island of the Seychelles. The archipelago is claimed by Mauritius, but controlled by the British. The United States run a military base on the island.