The islands were on the ancient trade route between India, Burma, and Southeast Asia and were regularly visited by ships.

[citation needed] The East India Company took over the islands in the 18th century, later becoming part of the British Raj.

[4] The islands were deemed too remote to administer from India after it took many weeks for the Chief Commissioner at Port Blair to learn of a murder at the lighthouse in 1877.

[8] A penal colony was founded on Great Coco Island in January 1959 by Ne Win's government for political prisoners.

After Ne Win’s 1962 coup d'état, it developed a reputation as a Burmese "Devil’s Island".

[8] In 1998, Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes claimed that China leased the islands in 1994; no supporting evidence had emerged by 2008.

[9] In 1992, a Japanese news service reported that China was helping upgrade the base on Great Coco Island.

Through the 1990s and 2000s, journalists and academics expanded the claims to China having a major signals intelligence base, seemingly part of the so-called "string of pearls", that monitored Indian activity.

[9] In 2014, Air Marshal P. K. Roy, commander-in-chief of India's Andaman and Nicobar Command, stated that "China has been developing a runway for civilian purposes.

[12] Satellite images from Maxar Technologies, taken in January 2023, revealed upgrades to Coco Island Airport.

A series of research programs on marine turtle conservation has been conducted by Myanmar's Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries, and Rural Development.

Data collection on tissue samples of green turtles for population genetic and tagging studies was conducted at Great Coco Island in March and April, 2006.

Previously, Great Coco Island had never been surveyed for marine turtle conservation due to its remote location.

[15] The lighthouse was built in 1867, with a focal plane of 59 m.[16] It has a lantern and gallery, painted with red and white horizontal bands.

There are more than 200 houses on Great Coco Island, and its total population is around a thousand people.

[20] Ballots were filled in Yangon without being shipped, resulting in a high turnout and police investigation.