Juan de Nova Island (French: Île Juan de Nova, pronounced [il ʒɥɑ̃ də nɔva]), Malagasy: Nosy Kely)[1] is a French-controlled tropical island in the narrowest part of the Mozambique Channel, about one-third of the way between Madagascar and Mozambique.

[5] João da Nova, a Galician admiral in the service of Portugal, came across the uninhabited island in 1501 while he was crossing the Mozambique Channel during an expedition to India.

[6] Although the island was located along the spice route, it was not of interest to the colonial powers because of its small size and little utility as a stopover.

[7] At the time, the only visitors to the island were Malagasy fishermen during sea turtles' nesting season.

In 1921, France transferred the administration of Juan de Nova from Paris to Tananarive in its colony of Madagascar and Dependencies.

In 1952, a second concession was granted for 15 years to the Société française des îles Malgaches (SOFIM), led by Hector Patureau.

Structures were built throughout the island to support the phosphate mining operation, including warehouses, housing, a prison, and a cemetery.

Working conditions were extremely harsh, with rule-breaking punished by flogging or imprisonment, and each worker had to extract one metric ton of phosphate per day to earn 3.5 rupees.

The French government retook control of the concession, paying 45 million CFA to Hector Patureau in compensation.

A project to create a Club Med tourist resort was proposed by Gilbert Trigano, which for a time brought a team of workers to the island under the supervision of Hector Patureau, but it was quickly abandoned.

Its aim was primarily to respond to Madagascar's claims to those territories, which France considers protected within an exclusive economic zone.

Juan de Nova Island was assigned a small garrison of 14 soldiers from the 2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, as well as a gendarme.

The island lies on the sea route between South Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar.

This mining operation led to the establishment of the first structures on the island, and the workers also planted coconut trees, whose products were also exported.

Three or four times a year, scientists come to Juan de Nova Island to study its ecosystem.

In particular, they have worked to study the behavior of 2 million pairs of terns that have sought refuge on the island, forming the largest colony in the Indian Ocean.

[14][15] The island has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports a very large colony of sooty terns, with up to 100,000 breeding pairs.