{{Infobox country
|conventional_long_name = Europa Island
|native_name =
| image_flag = Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.svg
| flag_caption = Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
| flag_size = 130
| alt_flag = Flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
| image_coat = Armoiries Terres australes et antarctiques françaises.svg
| coa_size = 85
| symbol_type =
| alt_coat = Coat of arms of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
| status = District of French Southern and Antarctic Lands
| national_motto = ()
| national_anthem =
}}
{{Infobox island
|disputed = yes
|name =
|image_name =
|image_map = Iles eparses de l'ocean Indien.svg
|map_caption = Map of the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean (Europa Island in the southwest, marked by its French name Île Europa)
|etymology =
|location = Mozambique Channel
|coordinates =
|area_km2 =
|length_km =
|width_km =
|width_mi =
|coastline_km =
|country =
|country_admin_divisions_title = Overseas territory
|country_admin_divisions = French Southern and Antarctic Lands
|country_admin_divisions_title_1 = District
|country_admin_divisions_1 = Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean
|country1 =
|population =
|population_as_of =
|timezone1 =
|utc_offset1 =
}}
Europa Island (, ), in Malagasy Nosy Ampela is a low-lying tropical atoll in the Mozambique Channel, about a third of the way from southern Madagascar to southern Mozambique. The island had never been inhabited until 1820, when the French family of Rosier moved to it. The island officially became a possession of France in 1897, though it is claimed by Madagascar.
The island, garrisoned by a detachment from Réunion, has a weather station and is visited by scientists. Though uninhabited now, it is part of the Scattered Islands of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands administrative region.
Europa Island was the setting of "Search in the Deep", a 1968 episode of The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, partly focusing on the breeding habits of the green sea turtle.
Description
Europa is in diameter, with a maximum altitude of , and has of coastline. It is surrounded by coral beaches and a fringing reef and encloses a mangrove lagoon of around and open to the sea on one side.
There are no ports or harbours but anchorage is possible offshore. Its exclusive economic zone, contiguous with that of Bassas da India, is . The airstrip is long.
Ecology
{{Designation list
| designation1 = Ramsar
| designation1_offname = Île d’Europa
| designation1_date = 27 October 2011
| designation1_number = 2073}}
The island is a nature reserve. Its vegetation consists of dry forest, scrub, Euphorbia, the mangrove swamp, and the remains of a sisal plantation. It is one of the world's largest nesting sites for green sea turtles. It is also home to goats introduced by settlers in the late 18th century.
The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports a large and diverse population of breeding seabirds and other waterbirds. It is the only known breeding site outside Aldabra and Madagascar for Malagasy pond herons. Seabirds include the second largest colony in the western Indian Ocean of great frigatebirds (with up to 1100 pairs), tropical shearwaters (up to 100 pairs, probably of the subspecies Puffinus bailloni bailloni previously considered endemic to the Mascarene Islands), dimorphic egrets and Caspian terns.
Europa is home to an endemic subspecies of white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus europae), three kinds of landbird (including an endemic subspecies of the Malagasy white-eye)BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheet: Europa. Downloaded from on 2012-01-07. and its own species of hissing cockroach.C. van Herrewege. 1973. Contribution à l'étude des Blattaria de la faune Malgache. II. Description de huit espèces nouvelles appartenant aux genres Gromphadorhina Brunner v.W. et Elliptorhina gen. nov. Bulletin de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon, 42nd année, Numéro spécial du 150th anniversaire, décembre 1973. 75-103
Climate
Europa Island's climate is affected by the Agulhas Current with water temperatures usually above , southeast trade winds during the (austral) winter and occasional cyclones. The climate can be described as a semi-arid and tropical combination with wet summers and dry winters.
{{Weather box
|location = Europa Island (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1961–1990, 2006–2023)
|metric first = Yes
|single line = Yes
|Jan record high C = 35.5
|Feb record high C = 34.9
|Mar record high C = 35.0
|Apr record high C = 33.9
|May record high C = 31.4
|Jun record high C = 29.3
|Jul record high C = 30.0
|Aug record high C = 30.3
|Sep record high C = 34.0
|Oct record high C = 34.3
|Nov record high C = 34.3
|Dec record high C = 34.7
|year record high C =
|Jan high C = 30.8
|Feb high C = 31.2
|Mar high C = 30.6
|Apr high C = 29.2
|May high C = 27.6
|Jun high C = 26.1
|Jul high C = 25.6
|Aug high C = 26.2
|Sep high C = 27.1
|Oct high C = 28.4
|Nov high C = 29.3
|Dec high C = 30.2
|year high C = 28.5
|Jan mean C = 27.5
|Feb mean C = 27.6
|Mar mean C = 27.0
|Apr mean C = 25.6
|May mean C = 23.5
|Jun mean C = 22.0
|Jul mean C = 21.6
|Aug mean C = 22.0
|Sep mean C = 22.7
|Oct mean C = 24.2
|Nov mean C = 25.3
|Dec mean C = 26.6
|year mean C = 24.7
|Jan low C = 24.1
|Feb low C = 24.3
|Mar low C = 23.6
|Apr low C = 21.8
|May low C = 19.7
|Jun low C = 18.4
|Jul low C = 17.7
|Aug low C = 17.7
|Sep low C = 18.7
|Oct low C = 20.5
|Nov low C = 21.8
|Dec low C = 23.1
|year low C = 20.9
|Jan record low C = 18.8
|Feb record low C = 19.1
|Mar record low C = 17.3
|Apr record low C = 15.6
|May record low C = 12.2
|Jun record low C = 10.2
|Jul record low C = 10.5
|Aug record low C = 11.1
|Sep record low C = 11.7
|Oct record low C = 12.4
|Nov record low C = 12.2
|Dec record low C = 15.0
|year record low C = 10.2
|precipitation colour = green
|Jan precipitation mm = 124.1
|Feb precipitation mm = 101.8
|Mar precipitation mm = 49.4
|Apr precipitation mm = 32.1
|May precipitation mm = 22.2
|Jun precipitation mm = 12.6
|Jul precipitation mm = 8.0
|Aug precipitation mm = 6.7
|Sep precipitation mm = 9.1
|Oct precipitation mm = 6.6
|Nov precipitation mm = 34.4
|Dec precipitation mm = 47.9
|year precipitation mm =
|unit precipitation days = 0.1 mm
|Jan precipitation days = 9.5
|Feb precipitation days = 6.2
|Mar precipitation days = 4.3
|Apr precipitation days = 3.8
|May precipitation days = 3.2
|Jun precipitation days = 2.3
|Jul precipitation days = 1.6
|Aug precipitation days = 1.2
|Sep precipitation days = 0.7
|Oct precipitation days = 1.0
|Nov precipitation days = 2.5
|Dec precipitation days = 4.3
|year precipitation days = 65
|Jan humidity = 80
|Feb humidity = 81
|Mar humidity = 78
|Apr humidity = 76
|May humidity = 76
|Jun humidity = 76
|Jul humidity = 76
|Aug humidity = 77
|Sep humidity = 77
|Oct humidity = 77
|Nov humidity = 78
|Dec humidity = 79
|year humidity = 78
|Jan sun = 275.9
|Feb sun = 257.1
|Mar sun = 275.9
|Apr sun = 255.0
|May sun = 272.8
|Jun sun = 246.0
|Jul sun = 263.5
|Aug sun = 288.3
|Sep sun = 276.0
|Oct sun = 300.7
|Nov sun = 291.0
|Dec sun = 272.8
|year sun = 3275.0
|Jand sun = 8.9
|Febd sun = 9.1
|Mard sun = 8.9
|Aprd sun = 8.5
|Mayd sun = 8.8
|Jund sun = 8.2
|Juld sun = 8.5
|Augd sun = 9.3
|Sepd sun = 9.2
|Octd sun = 9.7
|Novd sun = 9.7
|Decd sun = 8.8
|yeard sun = 9.0
|source 1 = Deutscher Wetterdienst (humidity and sun 1961–1990)<ref name = DWD>
{{cite web
| url = http://www.dwd.de/DWD/klima/beratung/ak/ak_619720_kt.pdf
| title = Klimatafel von Europa (Insel), Iles Desirades / Indischer Ozean / Frankreich
| work = Baseline climate means (1961-1990) from stations all over the world
| publisher = Deutscher Wetterdienst
| language = de
| access-date = 5 April 2017}}</ref>
|source 2 =Starlings Roost Weather<ref>{{cite web |url=http://starlingsroost.ddns.net/weather/worldclimate/graphs.php?climate=9120&code=61972
|title= ILE EUROPA Climate: 1991–2020
|publisher=Starlings Roost Weather
|access-date= 17 February 2025}}</ref>
}}
History
While the island has probably been sighted by navigators since at least the 16th century, it takes its name from the British ship Europa, which visited it in December 1774. Ruins and graves on Europa island attest to several attempts at settlement from the 1860s to the 1920s. For example, the French Rosiers family moved to the island in 1860, but subsequently abandoned it. The Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean are partially claimed by the Comoros, Madagascar, and Mauritius. The Malagasy and Mauritian claims, however, are significantly later than their access to independence. However, the agreement reached in October 2024 on the restitution to Mauritius of the Chagos Islands by the United Kingdom, in the heart of the Indian Ocean, notably home to the American base of Diego Garcia, has relaunched the debate in Madagascar.
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Europa Island.jpg|Satellite photo of Europa Island (north at top)
File:Europa Island simplified land cover map-en.svg|Map of Europa Island
File:vue aerienne europa.jpg|Aerial view of the island
File:EuropaDunesNord.jpg|Beaches, north of the island
</gallery>