Until the 1970s the Chagos Archipelago was home to thousands of people who cultivated Coconut Palm Trees. The coconut meat was dried into copra and exported commercially. The British relocated all the Chagos islanders to Mauritius according to the agreement which established the US military base on Diego Garcia. The Chagos people won a British court decision that their removal was unlawful but even so they have not been allowed to return. The islands are still covered with Coconut Palms, now growing wild and uncontrolled.