Foreign Relations of The United Kingdom - Sovereignty Disputes

Sovereignty Disputes

• Spain claims the British overseas territory of Gibraltar.
• Mauritius claims the entire Chagos Archipelago in the British Indian Ocean Territory, including the island of Diego Garcia used as a joint UK/US military base since the 1950s when the inhabitants were forcibly removed, Blenheim Reef, Speakers Bank and all the other features.
• Dispute over territorial waters and continental shelf rights around Rockall.
• There is a territorial claim in Antarctica, the British Antarctic Territory, which overlaps with areas claimed by Chile and Argentina.
• Conflicting claims over the Falkland Islands, controlled by Britain but claimed by Argentina. The dispute escalated into the Falklands War in 1982 over the islands' sovereignty, in which Argentina was defeated.