There are five atolls with a total of 20 islets (African Banks with 1 islet, Remire Reef with 1, St. Joseph Atoll with 14, Bertraut Reef with 1, and Poivre Atoll with 3, and seven single coral islands, for a total of 26 islands. The African Banks Atoll used to have a second islet, IIe du Sud, with a size of 20,000 square metres, that eroded in 1976 and now is always submerged except during low tide.
The total land area is 9.9 square kilometres. The total population is less than 100, with 50 in the main settlement of Desroches .
The following table lists the islands and atolls from North to South:
| Island | alternate name | type | area (km²) | remarks
|
|---|
| 1 | African Banks | | Atoll | 0.30 | uninhabited, 1 islet
| | 2 | Remire Reef | Eagle | Atoll | 0.27 | uninhabited, paved airstrip, 1500 ft (457 m)
| | 3 | D'Arros | Daros | Island | 1.50 | inhabited, hotel, unpaved airstrip 3200 ft (975 m)
| | 4 | St. Joseph Atoll | | Atoll | 1.21 | uninhabited, 14 islets
| | 5 | Desroches | | Island | 3.24 | population of 50, hotel, paved airstrip 4500 ft (1372 m)
| | 6 | Bertraut Reef | | Atoll | 0.01 | uninhabited, 1 islet
| | 7 | Poivre | | Atoll | 2.48 | uninhabited, 3 islets
| | 8 | Etoile | Lampériaire | Island | 0.01 | uninhabited
| | 9 | Boudeuse | King Ross | Island | 0.01 | uninhabited
| | 10 | Marie Louise | | Island | 0.52 | inhabited, paved airstrip 1700 ft (518 m)
| | 11 | Desnoeufs | | Island | 0.35 | uninhabited
| | | | Island Chain | 9.90 |
|
|
The five
Atoll s of the Amirante Islands consist of the following individual islets:
#North Island, area 300,000 m² (lighthouse)
#IIe du Sud (area was 20,000 m², eroded in 1976)
#Remire (Eagle, 270,000 m²), about 2.5 km west of the southern extremity of Remire Reef, with trees over 15 m high
#St. Joseph (largest)
#IIe aux Fouquets
#Ressource
#Petit Carcassaye
#Grand Carcassaye
#Benjamin
#Bancs Ferrari
#Chiens
#Pélicans
#Vars
#IIe Paul
#Banc de Sable
#Banc aux Cocos
#IIe aux Poules
#Sand Cay, 10,000 m²
#Poivre (North), area 1.1 km²
#Florentin, area 24,000 m²
#IIe du Sud, area 1.356 km²
The islands were discovered by Portuguese explorers en route to the Spice Islands and were named "Ilhas do Almirante" (Admiral Islands) in honor of Admiral
Vasco Da Gama .
The
Alphonse Group is about 90 km further South, and is sometimes included with the Amirante Islands, although this is geographically not correct, since these islands are not on the Amirantes Plateau, but clearly South of it. The consists of three islands, that are part of a mostly submerged large
Atoll (measuring at least 20 km from North to South), surrounded by an enormous
Coral Reef :
#Alphonse Island (North, size 1.74 km²)
#Bijoutir Island (Center, size 20,000 m²)
#St. François (South, size 176,000 m²)
A luxury hotel has been build on Alphonse Island, generating frequent traffic between other islands in the group.
