Bassas da India — De Facto Map

Bassas da India — Bassas da India · Claimed by Madagascar · France.

Interactive de facto map of Bassas da India, a territory of France. A drowned atoll in the Mozambique Channel whose rim barely breaks the surface at low tide — a graveyard of ships since the Portuguese. One of the Îles Éparses, the "Scattered Islands" France has held round Madagascar since 1896–97 and kept when Madagascar became independent in 1960; they are now a district of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. Madagascar has claimed them since 1972, with UN General Assembly backing since 1979. A joint commission met in 2019 and again in June 2025, after Emmanuel Macron told Antananarivo that France would not hand the islands back but would manage them jointly; the two sides agreed only that a dispute exists. Explore Bassas da India on the map alongside the other overseas holdings of France, drawn as they are administered on the ground.