They stretch about 155 km from the African Banks (African Islands) in the north to Desnœufs (Isle des Noeufs) in the south, all on the shallow Amirantes Bank (Amirantes Plateau, with depths of mostly 25 to 70 m), except the main island Île Desroches in the east, and submerged Lady Denison-Pender Shoal at the northern end.

The Amirantes were discovered by Vasco da Gama on his second voyage of exploration in 1503, and later named "Ilhas do Almirante" (Admiral Islands).

By the Treaty of Paris (1814), the islands were passed officially to the British, as a part of Mauritius.

On 8 November 1965 the United Kingdom split Île Desroches from the Seychelles to become part of the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory.

In addition to these 11 units, the following table also has entries for a reef and a shoal without islets, for the sake of completeness.