It was in the original 1974 standard [1]. No real idea on the politics of the time, but Britain had "paid" Mauritius £3 million for the islands less than ten ye

It was in the original 1974 standard [1]. No real idea on the politics of the time, but Britain had "paid" Mauritius £3 million for the islands less than ten years before [2], and of course the US base on Diego Garcia was already established. I use the scare quotes because Mauritius was a British colony at the time, and so the offer was quite possibly one that the Mauritians couldn't refuse. That, and the fact that £50m (in today's money) seems ridiculously cheap. [1] https://cdn.standards.iteh.ai/samples/2448/e41694ad96e34e95b94f4fe93f3e5db8/ISO-3166-1974.pdf https://cdn.standards.iteh.ai/samples/2448/e41694ad96e34e95b... [2] https://www.biot.gov.io/about/history/ https://www.biot.gov.io/about/history/