Bassas da India

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Bassas da India (also called Basse de Judie) is an uninhabited, roughly circular atoll about 10 km in diameter, which corresponds to a total size (including lagoon of 80 km² It is located at Template:Coor dm, in the southern Mozambique Channel, about half-way between Madagascar (which is 385 km to the east) and Mozambique, and 110 km northwest of Europa Island . It rises steeply from the seabed 3 000 m below. The reef rim averages around 100 m across and completley encloses a shallow lagoon that has a maximum depth of 15 m. Its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 123,700 km² is contiguous with that of Europa Island.

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The atoll consists of ten barren rocky islets, with no vegetation, totalling 0.2 km&sup2 in area. Those on the north and east sides are 2.1 to 3 m high, and thos on the west and south sides 1.2 m. The reef is completely covered by the sea from 3 hours before to 3 hours after high tide. The coastline of the reef measures 35.2 km. The area is subject to cyclones. The atoll has long been a maritime hazard and is the site of numerous shipwrecks.

Bassas da India was first recorded by Portuguese explorers in the early 16th century. In 1897 it became a French possession, later being placed under the administration of a commissioner residing in Réunion in 1968.

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