This thought-provoking examination of the contemporary fight to right an historic wrong centres the voices of the people experiencing the abuses of British colonialism and delves into the history of Britain as a colonial power.

After the Second World War, new international rules heralded an age of human rights and self-determination. But in the 1960s, colonial instinct reared its head once more as Britain decided to offer the US a base on one of the islands of the Chagos Archipelago, establish a new colony, and deport the entire local population.

Over the next four decades, Mauritius would fight for the return of Chagos; for the last ten years of that battle, Philippe Sands was intimately involved. The Last Colony is a firsthand account of his experience of international law, the continued horrors of colonial rule, and the devastating impact of Britain’s chokehold on its last colony in Africa. This is not just the story of a country’s battle against colonialism, but the story of individuals whose lives were irrevocably changed by Britain’s actions.

Philippe Sands is Professor of Law at UCL and a practising barrister at Matrix Chambers. He has been involved in many of the most important international cases of recent years, including Pinochet, Congo, Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Iraq, Guantanamo and the Rohingya. He is the author of Lawless World, Torture Team, East West Street, which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction, and Sunday Times bestselling The Ratline.