History of the Falkland Islands - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of the Falkland Islands goes back at least five hundred years, with active exploration and colonisation only taking place in the 18th century. Nonetheless, the islands have been a matter of controversy, as they have been claimed by the French, Spaniards, British and Argentines at various points.

Pre-European discovery

The Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

were uninhabited when discovered by Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

ans, but recent discoveries of arrowheads in Lafonia

Lafonia

Lafonia is a peninsula forming the southern part of East Falkland, the largest of the Falkland Islands.-Geography and geology:Shaped like the letter "E", it is joined to the northern part of the island by a 1.5-mile narrow isthmus; were this isthmus to be severed, Lafonia would be the third...

(on the southern half of East Falkland

East Falkland

East Falkland the largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, has an area of and a coastline long. Most of the population of the Falklands live in East Falkland, almost all of them living in the northern half of the island...

) as well as the remains of a wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

en canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

provide strong evidence that they had been visited previously, most likely by the Yaghan

Yaghan

The Yaghan, also called Yagán, Yahgan , Yámana or Yamana, are the indigenous inhabitants of the islands south of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego extending their presence into Cape Horn...

people of Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...

. It is not known if these are evidence of one-way journeys, but there is no known evidence of pre-Columbian buildings or structures.

The islands had no native trees when discovered but there is some ambiguous evidence of past forestation, that may be due to wood being transported by oceanic currents from Patagonia. All modern trees have been introduced by Europeans.

European discovery

An archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

in the region of the Falkland Islands appeared on map

Map

A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....

s from the early 16th century, suggesting they may have been sighted by Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer. He was born in Sabrosa, in northern Portugal, and served King Charles I of Spain in search of a westward route to the "Spice Islands" ....

or another expedition of the 16th century. In 1519 or 1520, Esteban Gómez

Esteban Gómez

Esteban Gómez, also known as Estevan Gómez, and born Estêvão Gomes, , was a Portuguese cartographer and explorer. He sailed at the service of Spain in the fleet of Ferdinand Magellan, but deserted the expedition before reaching the Strait of Magellan, and returned to Spain in May 1521...

of the San Antonio, one of the captains in the expedition of Magellan, deserted this enterprise and encountered several islands, which members of his crew called "Islas de Sansón y de los Patos" ("Islands of Samson and the Ducks"). Although these islands were probably the Jason Islands

Jason Islands

The Jason Islands are an archipelago in the Falkland Islands, lying to the far north-west of West Falkland. Three of the islands, Steeple Jason, Grand Jason and Clarke's Islet are private nature reserves owned by the Wildlife Conservation Society, New York...

, a group northwest of West Falkland, the names "Islas de Sansón" (or "San Antón", "San Son", and "Ascensión") were used for the Falklands on Spanish maps during this period.

Islands that may well have been the Falkland Islands are also shown on the maps of Piri Reis

Piri Reis

Piri Reis was an Turkish Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555....

, a Turkish admiral of the period who drew remarkably accurate maps

Piri Reis map

The Piri Reis map is a pre-modern world map compiled in 1513 from military intelligence by the Ottoman-Turkish admiral and cartographer Piri Reis. The half of the map that survives shows the western coasts of Europe and North Africa and the coast of Brazil with reasonable accuracy...

.

When English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

explorer John Davis

John Davis (English explorer)

John Davis , was one of the chief English navigators and explorers under Elizabeth I, especially in Polar regions and in the Far East.-Early life:...

, commander of the Desire, one of the ships belonging to Thomas Cavendish

Thomas Cavendish

Sir Thomas Cavendish was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and return by circumnavigating the globe...

's second expedition to the New World

New World

The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

, separated from Cavendish off the coast of what is now southern Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, he decided to make for the Strait of Magellan

Strait of Magellan

The Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...

in order to find Cavendish. On 9 August 1592 a severe storm battered his ship, and Davis drifted under bare masts, taking refuge "among certain Isles never before discovered." Consequently, for a time the Falklands were known as "Davis Land" or "Davis' Land."

In 1594, they were visited by English commander Richard Hawkins

Richard Hawkins

thumb|250px|right|Sir Richard HawkinsAdmiral Sir Richard Hawkins was a 17th century English seaman, explorer and Elizabethan "Sea Dog", and was the son of Admiral Sir John Hawkins....

, who, combining his own name with that of Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen"

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

, gave the islands the name of "Hawkins' Maidenland."

In 1600, Sebald de Weert

Sebald de Weert

Sebald or Sebalt de Weert was a Dutch captain and vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company...

, a Dutchman

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, visited them and called them the Sebald Islands (in Spanish, "Islas Sebaldinas" or "Sebaldes"), a name which they bore on some Dutch maps into the 19th century.

English Captain John Strong

John Strong (mariner)

John Strong was an English mariner.During an expedition from London to South America in 1689–91, commanding the HMS Welfare, he discovered the sound between the two main islands in the Falkland Islands. He named it Falkland Sound for Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount of Falkland, a part-owner in the Welfare...

sailed between the two principal islands in 1690 and called the passage "Falkland Channel" (now Falkland Sound

Falkland Sound

The Falkland Sound is a sea strait in the Falkland Islands. Running south west - north east, it separates West and East Falkland.-Name:The sound was named by John Strong in 1690 for Viscount Falkland, the name only later being applied to the archipelago and its two largest islands...

), after Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland (1659–1694), who as Commissioner of the Admiralty

Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

had financed the expedition and later became First Lord of the Admiralty. From this body of water the island group later took its collective name.

Early colonisation

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

established a colony at Port St. Louis, on East Falkland

East Falkland

's Berkeley Sound

Berkeley Sound

Berkeley Sound is an inlet, or fjord in the north east of East Falkland in the Falkland Islands. The inlet was the site of the first attempts at colonisation of the islands, at Port Louis, by the French....

coast in 1764. The French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

name Îles Malouines was given to the islands – malouin being the adjective for the Breton

Brittany

Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...

port of Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo

Saint-Malo is a walled port city in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. It is a sub-prefecture of the Ille-et-Vilaine.-Demographics:The population can increase to up to 200,000 in the summer tourist season...

. The Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

name Islas Malvinas is a translation of the French

French language

name.

In 1765, Capt. John Byron

John Byron

Vice Admiral The Hon. John Byron, RN was a Royal Navy officer. He was known as Foul-weather Jack because of his frequent bad luck with weather.-Early career:...

, who was unaware of the French presence in the east, explored Saunders Island

Saunders Island (Falkland Islands)

Saunders Island is the fourth largest of the Falkland Islands, lying north west of West Falkland. The island is run as a sheep farm.The island has an area of square miles and a has a coastline miles long . It is about 13 miles from east to west and almost that distance...

, in the west, named the harbour Port Egmont

Port Egmont

Port Egmont was the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands, on Saunders Island.-History:Port Egmont was established in on 25 January 1765, by an expedition led by Commodore John Byron consisting of the boats , and...

, and claimed this and other islands for Britain

Kingdom of Great Britain

The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...

on the grounds of prior discovery. The next year Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

John MacBride

John MacBride (Royal Navy officer)

John MacBride was an officer of the Royal Navy and a politician who saw service during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars, eventually rising to the rank of Admiral of the Blue.MacBride entered the navy after serving on merchant vessels and...

established a British settlement at Port Egmont. These events were nearly the cause of a war between Britain and Spain, both countries having sent armed fleets to contest the barren but strategically important sovereignty

Sovereignty

Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...

of the islands. In 1766, France agreed to leave, and Spain agreed to reimburse Louis de Bougainville

Louis Antoine de Bougainville

Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville was a French admiral and explorer. A contemporary of James Cook, he took part in the French and Indian War and the unsuccessful French attempt to defend Canada from Britain...

, who had established a settlement at his own expense. The Spaniards assumed control in 1767 and re-named Port St. Louis as Puerto Soledad

Puerto Soledad

Puerto Soledad was a Spanish military outpost and penal colony on the Falkland Islands, situated at an inner cove of Berkeley Sound .-Port St...

.

Meanwhile, the British presence in the west continued, until interrupted by Spain during the Falkland Crisis from 10 July 1770 to 22 January 1771. As a result of economic pressures stemming from the upcoming American War of Independence, Britain unilaterally chose to withdraw from many overseas settlements in 1774. On 20 May 1776 the British forces under the command of Lt. Clayton formally took their leave of Port Egmont, while leaving a plaque asserting Britain's continuing sovereignty over the islands.

Spain ruled the Islands from Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

until 1811, withdrawing due to the pressures of war against

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

Bonapartist rule at home and the moves toward independence

South American Wars of Independence

The Latin American Wars of Independence were the various revolutions that took place during the late 18th and early 19th centuries and resulted in the creation of a number of independent countries in Latin America. These revolutions followed the American and French Revolutions, which had profound...

by her South American colonies. Like Britain earlier, Spain left behind a plaque proclaiming her sovereignty.

Inter-colonial period

Following the departure of the Spanish settlers, the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

became the domain of whalers and sealers who used the islands to shelter from the worst of the South Atlantic weather. By merit of their location, the Falkland Islands have often been the last refuge for ships damaged at sea. Most numerous among those using the islands were British and American sealers

Seal hunting

Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. The hunt is currently practiced in five countries: Canada, where most of the world's seal hunting takes place, Namibia, the Danish region of Greenland, Norway and Russia...

, where typically between 40 and 50 ships were engaged in exploiting fur seal

Fur seal

Fur seals are any of nine species of pinnipeds in the Otariidae family. One species, the northern fur seal inhabits the North Pacific, while seven species in the Arctocephalus genus are found primarily in the Southern hemisphere...

s. This represents an itinerant population of up to 1,000 sailors, which outnumbered any permanent population by an order of magnitude.

The Isabella incident

On 8 February 1813 the British ship Isabella, a ship of 193 tons and a crew of fourteen, was wrecked off the coast of Eagle Island

Speedwell Island

Speedwell Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying in the Falkland Sound, southwest of Lafonia, East Falkland....

(now known as Speedwell Island). Captain George Higton and five other men volunteered to make the hazardous voyage to the River Plate

Río de la Plata

The Río de la Plata —sometimes rendered River Plate in British English and the Commonwealth, and occasionally rendered [La] Plata River in other English-speaking countries—is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and...

in one of the ship's longboats. Braving the South Atlantic in a boat little more than 18 ft (5.5 m), they made landfall a month later. The British gun brig Nancy was sent to rescue the survivors.

On 5 April Captain Charles Barnard

Charles Barnard

Captain Charles Barnard was a famous castaway.In 1812, the British ship Isabella, captained by George Higton, was shipwrecked off Eagle Island . Most of the crew were rescued by the American sealer Nanina, commanded by Captain Charles Barnard...

of the American sealer

Seal hunting

Nanina was sailing off the shore of Eagle Island

Speedwell Island

Speedwell Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying in the Falkland Sound, southwest of Lafonia, East Falkland....

, with a discovery boat deployed looking for seals. Having seen smoke and heard gunshots the previous day, he was alert to the possibility of survivors of a ship wreck. This suspicion was heightened, when the crew of the discovery boat came aboard and informed the captain they had come across a new moccasin as well as the partially butchered remains of a seal. At dinner that evening, the crew observed a man approaching the ship who was shortly joined by eight to ten others. Both Barnard and the survivors from the Isabella had harboured concern the other party was Spanish and were relieved to discover their respective nationalities.

Barnard dined with the Isabella survivors that evening and finding that the British party were unaware of the War of 1812

War of 1812

The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...

informed the survivors that technically they were at war with each other. Nevertheless Barnard promised to rescue the British party and set about preparations for the voyage to the River Plate. Realising that they had insufficient stores for the voyage he set about hunting wild pigs and otherwise acquiring additional food. However, while Barnard was gathering supplies, the British took the opportunity to seize the Nanina and departed leaving Barnard and three of his crew marooned. Shortly thereafter the Nanina encountered the British ship Nancy under Lt D'Aranda who had sailed from the River Plate in order to rescue the survivors of the Isabella. Lt D'Aranda took the Nanina as a prize.

Barnard and his party survived for eighteen months marooned on the islands until rescued by the British ships and Asp in November 1814. The British admiral in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

had requested their masters to divert to the area to look for him. In 1829, Barnard published an account of his survival entitled A Narrative of the Sufferings and Adventures of Capt Charles H. Barnard.

Argentinian colonial aspirations

In October 1820, the Frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

Heroína

Heroina

The Heroína was a privately owned frigate that was operated as a privateer under a license issued by the United Provinces of the River Plate . It was under the command of American-born Colonel David Jewett and has become linked with the Argentine claim to sovereignty of the Falkland Islands...

under the command of American privateer

Privateer

A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...

Colonel David Jewett

David Jewett

Colonel David Jewett is a notable figure in the history of the sovereignty dispute between Great Britain and Argentina as he commanded the Frigate Heroína that visited the Falkland Islands in 1820 and raised the first Argentine flag on the islands....

arrived in Puerto Soledad

Puerto Soledad

Puerto Soledad was a Spanish military outpost and penal colony on the Falkland Islands, situated at an inner cove of Berkeley Sound .-Port St...

following voyage lasting from March to October 1820 looking to capture Spanish ships as prizes. Most of her crew were incapacitated by scurvy and disease. Jewett also executed six of his crew for mutiny. Ultimately he was unable to find any Spanish prizes but did manage to capture a Portuguese ship named Carlota. As Argentina and Portugal were not at war, Jewett could be considered to have committed piracy. A storm resulted in severe damage to the Heroína and had sunk the prize Carlota forcing Jewett to put into Puerto Soledad

Puerto Soledad

Puerto Soledad was a Spanish military outpost and penal colony on the Falkland Islands, situated at an inner cove of Berkeley Sound .-Port St...

for repairs.

Captain Jewett chose to rest and recover in the islands, seeking assistance from the British explorer James Weddell

James Weddell

James Weddell was a British sailor, navigator and seal hunter who in the early Spring of 1823 sailed to latitude of 74°15' S and into a region of the Southern Ocean that later became known as the Weddell Sea.-Early life:He entered the merchant service very...

. Weddell reported only 30 seamen and 40 soldiers fit for duty out of a crew of 200, and how Jewett slept with pistols over his head following an attempted mutiny. On 6 November 1820, Jewett raised the flag of the United Provinces of the River Plate (a predecessor of modern-day Argentina

Argentina

) and claimed possession of the islands. Weddell reported the letter he received from Jewett as:

Sir, I have the honor of informing you that I have arrived in this port with a commission from the Supreme Government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata to take possession of these islands on behalf of the country to which they belong by Natural Law. While carrying out this mission I want to do so with all the courtesy and respect all friendly nations; one of the objectives of my mission is to prevent the destruction of resources necessary for all ships passing by and forced to cast anchor here, as well as to help them to obtain the necessary supplies, with minimum expenses and inconvenience. Since your presence here is not in competition with these purposes and in the belief that a personal meeting will be fruitful for both of us, I invite you to come aboard, where you'll be welcomed to stay as long as you wish; I would also greatly appreciate your extending this invitation to any other British subject found in the vicinity; I am, respectfully yours. Signed, Jewett, Colonel of the Navy of the United Provinces of South America and commander of the frigate Heroína
Heroina
The Heroína was a privately owned frigate that was operated as a privateer under a license issued by the United Provinces of the River Plate . It was under the command of American-born Colonel David Jewett and has become linked with the Argentine claim to sovereignty of the Falkland Islands...

.

Many modern authors report this letter as the declaration issued by Jewett

David Jewett

. Weddell did not believe that Jewett was acting with the interests of the United Provinces of the River Plate in mind, rather Jewett had merely put into the harbour in order to obtain refreshments for his crew, and that the assumption of possession was chiefly intended for the purpose of securing an exclusive claim to the wreck of the French ship Uranie that had foundered at the entrance of Berkeley Sound

Berkeley Sound

a few months prior. Weddell left the islands on 20 November 1820 noting that Jewett had not completed repairs to the Heroína.

Finally Jewett seized an American flagged ship named Rampart, committing piracy for a second time. Jewett sent a long report to Buenos Aires dated 1 February 1821 in which he described his journey. He did not, however, make any mention whatsoever of his claim over the Falklands.

He departed from the Falkland Islands in April 1821. In total he had spent no more than six months on the island, entirely at Port Luis. In 1822, Jewett was accused of piracy by a Portuguese court, but by that time he was in Brazil.

News of Jewett's claim over the Falklands was reported first in the Salem Gazette, a Massachusetts news paper and then re-printed in the Times of London. The Spanish newspaper Cadiz then reported the story and it was only when this report reached Buenos Aires, as a foreign news story, was it published in the Buenos Aires Argos on 10 November 1821. More than a year after the event. The Argentine government itself made no announcements. This was probably because Jewett had made no report of his 'acquisition' and so they were completely unaware that it had taken place.

Luis Vernet's enterprise

In 1823, the United Provinces of the River Plate granted fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

rights to Jorge Pacheco and Luis Vernet

Luis Vernet

Luis Vernet was a merchant from Hamburg of Huguenot descent. Vernet established a settlement on East Falkland in 1828, after first seeking approval from both the British and Argentine authorities. As such, Vernet is a controversial figure in the history of the Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute...

. Travelling to the islands in 1824, the first expedition failed almost as soon as it landed, and Pacheco chose not to continue with the venture. Vernet persisted, but the second attempt, delayed until Winter 1826 by a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian blockade, was also unsuccessful. The expedition intended to exploit the feral

Feral

A feral organism is one that has changed from being domesticated to being wild or untamed. In the case of plants it is a movement from cultivated to uncultivated or controlled to volunteer. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, may...

cattle on the islands but the boggy

Swamp

A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

conditions meant the Gaucho

Gaucho

Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...

s could not catch cattle in their traditional way. Vernet was by now aware of conflicting British claims to the islands and sought permission from the British consulate before departing for the islands.

In 1828, the United Provinces government granted Vernet all of East Falkland

East Falkland

including all its resources, and exempted him from taxation if a colony could be established within three years. He took settlers, including British Captain Matthew Brisbane (who had sailed to the islands earlier with Weddell

James Weddell

), and before leaving once again sought permission from the British Consulate in Buenos Aires. The British asked for a report for the British government on the islands, and Vernet asked for British protection should they return.

On 10 June 1829, Vernet was designated as 'civil and military commandant' of the islands (no Governor was ever appointed) and granted a monopoly on seal hunting

Seal hunting

rights. A protest was lodged by the British Consulate in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

. By 1831, the colony was successful enough to be advertising for new colonists, although the Lexingtons report suggests that the conditions on the islands were quite miserable. Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

's visit in 1833 confirmed the squalid conditions in the settlement, although Captain Matthew Brisbane (Vernet's deputy) later claimed that this was the result of the Lexington

USS Lexington (1825)

The second USS Lexington was a sloop in the United States Navy built at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, in 1825; and commissioned on 11 June 1826, Master Commandant William B. Shubrick in command....

raid.

USS Lexington raid

In 1831, Vernet attempted to assert his monopoly on seal hunting

Seal hunting

rights. This led him to capture the American ships Harriet, Superior and Breakwater. As a reprisal, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

sent Captain Silas Duncan

Silas Duncan

Silas M. Duncan was an officer in the United States Navy during the War of 1812.Born in Rockaway, New Jersey, Duncan was appointed midshipman 15 November 1809. While third lieutenant of Saratoga during the Battle of Lake Champlain, 11 September 1814, he was sent in a gig to order the gunboats to...

of the USS Lexington

USS Lexington (1825)

to recover the confiscated property. After finding what he considered proof that at least four American fishing ships had been captured, plundered, and even outfitted for war, Duncan took seven prisoners aboard the Lexington and charged them with piracy

Piracy

Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...

.

Also taken on board, Duncan reported, "were the whole of the (Falklands') population consisting of about forty persons, with the exception of some 'gauchos', or cowboys who were encamped in the interior." The group, principally German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

citizens from Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

, "appeared greatly rejoiced at the opportunity thus presented of removing with their families from a desolate region where the climate is always cold and cheerless and the soil extremely unproductive". However, about 24 people did remain on the island, mainly Gauchos and several Charrua Indians, who continued to trade on Vernet's account.

Measures were taken against the settlement, the log of the Lexington reports destruction of arms and a powder store, while settlers remaining later said that there was great damage to private property. Towards the end of his life, Luis Vernet authorised his sons to claim on his behalf for the his losses stemming from the raid. In the case lodged against the US Government for compensation, rejected by the US Government of President Cleveland in 1885, Vernet stated that the settlement was destroyed.

Attempted establishment of a penal colony

In the aftermath of the Lexington incident, Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

Esteban Mestivier was commissioned by the Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

government to set up a penal colony

Penal colony

A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory...

. He arrived at his destination on 15 November 1832 but his soldiers mutinied

Mutiny

Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...

and killed him. Lt. Col.

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

José María Pinedo quelled the rebellion and took charge of the settlement.

British return

The Argentinian assertions of sovereignty provided the spur for Britain to send a naval task force in order to finally and permanently return to the islands.

On 3 January 1833, Captain James Onslow, of the brig-sloop HMS Clio, arrived at Vernet's settlement at Port Louis to request that the flag of the United Provinces of the River Plate be replaced with the British one, and for the administration to leave the islands. While Lt. Col. José María Pinedo, commander of the schooner Sarandí, wanted to resist, his numerical disadvantage was obvious, particularly as a large number of his crew were British mercenaries who were unwilling to fight their own countrymen. Such a situation was not unusual in the newly independent states in Latin America, where land forces were strong, but navies were frequently quite undermanned. As such he protested verbally, but departed without a fight on 5 January. Argentina claims that Vernet's colony was also expelled at this time, though sources from time appear to dispute this, suggesting that the colonists were encouraged to remain initially under the authority of Vernet's storekeeper, William Dickson

William Dickson (Falklands)

William Dickson, born Dublin, Ireland was an Irish-born settler in Port Louis in the Falkland Islands during a pivotal time in its history, following the removal of the Argentine military presence and leading up to the Port Louis Murders, also known as the Gaucho Murders, during which he was...

and later his deputy, Matthew Brisbane.

Initial British plans for the Islands were based upon the continuation of Vernet's settlement at Port Louis. An Argentine immigrant of Irish origin, William Dickson, was appointed as the British representative and provided with a flagpole and flag to be flown whenever ships were in harbour. In March 1833, Vernet's Deputy, Matthew Brisbane returned and presented his papers to Captain Fitzroy of HMS Beagle, which coincidentally happened to be in harbour at the time. Fitzroy encouraged Brisbane to continue with Vernet's enterprise with the proviso that whilst private enterprise was encouraged, Argentine assertions of sovereignty would not be welcome.

Brisbane re-asserted his authority over Vernet's settlement and recommenced the practise of paying employees in promissory notes. Due to Vernet's reduced status, the promissory notes were devalued, which meant that the employees received fewer goods at Vernet's stores for their wages. After months of freedom following the Lexington raid this accentuated dissatisfaction with the leadership of the settlement. In August 1833, under the leadership of Antonio Rivero

Antonio Rivero

Antonio “El Gaucho" Rivero was a Gaucho who murdered the five leading members of the settlement of Port Louis on the Falkland Islands on 26 August 1833.-Biography:...

, a gang of Creole and Indian gauchos ran amok in the settlement. Armed with muskets obtained from American sealers, the gang killed five members of Vernet's settlement including both Dickson and Brisbane. Shortly afterward the survivors fled Port Louis, seeking refuge on Turf Island in Berkeley Sound

Berkeley Sound

until rescued by the British sealer 'Hopeful' in October 1833.

Lt Henry Smith was installed as the first British resident in January 1834. One of his first actions was to pursue and arrest Rivero's gang for the murders committed the previous August. The gang was sent for trial in London but due to a quirk of the British Legal system could not be tried as the Crown Court did not have jurisdiction over the Falkland Islands. In the British colonial system, colonies had their own, distinct governments, finances, and judicial systems. Rivero was not tried and sentenced because the British local government and local judiciary had not yet been installed in 1834; these were created later, by the 1841 British Letters Patent

Letters patent

Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...

. Subsequently, Rivero has acquired the status of a folk hero in Argentina, where he is portrayed as leading a rebellion against British rule. Ironically it was the actions of Rivero that were responsible for the ultimate demise of Vernet's enterprise on the Falklands.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

revisited the Falklands in 1834, Darwin

Darwin, Falkland Islands

Darwin is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland, lying on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, north of Goose Green...

and Fitzroy

Fitzroy, Falkland Islands

Fitzroy is a settlement on East Falkland. It is divided into Fitzroy North and Fitzroy South.It is named after Robert FitzRoy who sailed with Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle, andis on the inlet known as Port Pleasant....

both take their names from this visit.

After the arrest of Rivero, Smith set about restoring the settlement at Port Louis, repairing the damage done by the Lexington raid and renaming it 'Anson's Harbour'. Lt Lowcay succeeded Smith in April 1838, followed by Lt Robinson in September 1839 and Lt Tyssen in December 1839.

Vernet later attempted to return to the Islands but was refused permission to return. The British Crown reneged on promises and refused to recognise rights granted by Captain Onslow at the time of the reoccupation. Eventually, after traveling to London, Vernet received paltry compensation for horses shipped to Port Louis many years before. G.T. Whittington obtained a concession of 6400 acres (26 km²) from Vernet that he later exploited with the formation of the Falkland Islands Commercial Fishery and Agricultural Association.

British colonisation

Following the British occupation of the Falkland Islands and the failure of Vernet's settlement, the British had largely maintained Port Louis

Port Louis, Falkland Islands

Port Louis is a settlement on northeastern East Falkland. It was established by Louis de Bougainville in 1764 as the first French settlement on the islands, but was then transferred to Spain in 1767 and renamed Puerto Soledad .-History:The settlement has seen several name changes...

as a military outpost. Pressure to develop the islands as a colony began to mount as the result of a campaign mounted by British merchant G.T. Whittington. Whittington formed the Falkland Islands Commercial Fishery and Agricultural Association and (based on information indirectly obtained from Vernet) published a pamphlet entitled "The Falkland Islands". Later a petition signed by London merchants was presented to the British Government

Whig Government 1835-1841

Lord Melbourne's second government came to power after Sir Robert Peel's minority government resigned in 1835. Lord Palmerston returned as Foreign Secretary while Lord John Russell held his first major office as Home Secretary....

demanding the convening of a public meeting to discuss the future development of the Falkland Islands. Whittington petitioned the Colonial Secretary

Secretary of State for War and the Colonies

The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...

, Lord Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....

, proposing that his association be allowed to colonise the islands. In May 1840, the British Government made the decision to colonise the Falkland Islands.

Unaware of the decision by the British Government

Whig Government 1835-1841

to colonise the islands, Whittington grew impatient and decided to take action of his own initiative. Obtaining two ships, he sent his brother, J. B. Whittington, on a mission to land stores and settlers at Port Louis

Port Louis, Falkland Islands

. On arrival he presented his claim to land that his brother had bought from Vernet. Lt. Tyssen was taken aback by Whittington's arrival, indicating that he had no authority to allow this; however, he was unable to prevent the party from landing. Whittington constructed a large house for his party, and using a salting house built by Vernet established a fish-salting business.

In 1836, East Falkland

East Falkland

was surveyed by Admiral George Grey, and further in 1837 by Lowcay. Admiral George Grey, conducting the geographic survey in November 1836 had the following to say about their first view of East Falkland -

We anchored a little after sunset off a creek called 'Johnson's Harbour

Johnson's Harbour

Johnson's Harbour is a settlement on the north east coast of East Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It is on the shore of Berkeley Sound at the head of Chabot Creek on a bay also named Johnson's Harbour. It has a small store but the FIGAS only lands there for emergencies...

'. The day having been cloudy with occasional showers, these islands at all times dreary enough, looked particularly so on our first view of them, the shores of sound

Berkeley Sound

, steep, with bare hills intersected with ravines rising from them, these hills without a tree and the clouds hanging low, gave them exactly the appearance of the Cheviots or a Scotch

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

moor on a winter's day and considering we were in the May of these latitudes, the first impression of the climate was not favourable, the weather however, was not called, the thermometer was 63 degrees [Fahrenheit (17°C)] which is Howick

Howick, Northumberland

Howick is a village in Northumberland, between Boulmer and Craster. It is just inland from the North Sea, into which Howick burn flows, from Howick Hall...

mid-summer temperature.

Establishment of Port Stanley

The British Government

Whig Government 1835-1841

continued with its plans to colonise the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

, appointing Lt Richard Moody

Richard Moody

Major-General Richard Clement Moody was a Lieutenant-Governor, and later Governor, of the Falkland Islands, and the first Lieutenant-Governor of the Colony of British Columbia. While serving under this post, he selected the site of the new capital, New Westminster...

as the first Lieutenant Governor

Governor of the Falkland Islands

The Governor of the Falkland Islands is the representative of the British Crown in the Falkland Islands, acting "in Her Majesty's name and on Her Majesty's behalf" as the islands' de facto head of state in the absence of the British monarch...

of the Islands. He was transported to the Falkland Islands aboard the ship Hebe, arriving in Anson's Harbour

Port Louis, Falkland Islands

in October 1841. He was accompanied by twelve sappers and miners and their families, together with Whittington's colonists this brought the population of Anson's Harbour to approximately 50.

In 1842, Lieutenant Governor Moody

Richard Moody

was instructed by Lord Stanley

Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC was an English statesman, three times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and to date the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. He was known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley...

the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies

Secretary of State for War and the Colonies

The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...

to report on the potential of the Port William

Port William, Falkland Islands

Port William is a large inlet on the east coast of East Falkland island. A strait called "the Narrows" leads into Stanley Harbour....

area as the site of the new capital. Moody assigned the task of surveying the area to Captain Ross

James Clark Ross

Sir James Clark Ross , was a British naval officer and explorer. He explored the Arctic with his uncle Sir John Ross and Sir William Parry, and later led his own expedition to Antarctica.-Arctic explorer:...

, leader of the Antarctic Expedition. Captain Ross delivered his report in 1843, concluding that Port William afforded a good deep-water anchorage for naval vessels, and that the southern shores of Port Jackson

Stanley, Falkland Islands

Stanley is the capital and only true cityin the Falkland Islands. It is located on the isle of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2006 census, the city had a population of 2,115...

was a suitable location for the proposed settlement. Not everyone was enthused with the selection of the location of the new capital, J. B. Whittington famously remarked that "Of all the miserable bog holes, I believe that Mr Moody has selected one of the worst for the site of his town."

Construction of the new settlement started in July 1843, and in July 1845 (at Governor Moody's

Richard Moody

) suggestion the new capital of the islands was officially named Port Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

after Lord Stanley

Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

. The structure of the Colonial Government was established in 1845 with the formation of the Legislative Council and Executive Council

Executive Council of the Falkland Islands

The Executive Council of the Falkland Islands is the policy making body of the Government of the Falkland Islands, exercising executive power by advising the Governor...

and work on the construction of Government House

Government House (Falkland Islands)

Government House in Stanley has been the home of the Falkland Islands' London-appointed Governors since the mid-19th century. The official residence was built in 1845....

commenced.. The following year, the first officers appointed to the Colonial Government took their posts, by this time a number of residences, a large storage shed, carpenter's shop and blacksmiths shop had been completed and the Government Dockyard laid-out.

With the establishment of the deep-water anchorage and improvements in port facilities, Stanley saw a dramatic increase in the number of visiting ships in the 1840s in part due to the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

. A boom in ship provisioning and ship-repair resulted, aided by the notoriously bad weather in the South Atlantic and around Cape Horn

Cape Horn

Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...

. Stanley and the Falkland Islands are famous as the repository of many wrecks of 19th century ships that reached the islands to be condemned as unseaworthy and were often employed as floating warehouses by local merchants.

At one point in the 19th century, Stanley became one of the world's busiest ports. However, the ship-repair trade began to slacken off in 1876 with the establishment of the Plimsoll line, which saw the elimination of the so-called coffin ship

Coffin ship

Coffin ship is the name given to any boat that has been overinsured and is therefore worth more to its owners sunk than afloat. These were hazardous places to work in the days before effective maritime safety regulation. They were generally eliminated in the 1870s with the success of reforms...

s and unseaworthy vessels that might otherwise have ended up in Stanley for repair. With the introduction of increasingly reliable iron steamships

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

in the 1890s the trade declined further and was no longer viable following the opening of the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

in 1914. Port Stanley continued to be a busy port supporting whaling and sealing activities in the early part of the 20th century, British warships (and garrisons) in the First

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

and Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

and the fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

and cruise ship

Cruise ship

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...

industries in the latter half of the century.

Government House

Government House (Falkland Islands)

Government House in Stanley has been the home of the Falkland Islands' London-appointed Governors since the mid-19th century. The official residence was built in 1845....

opened as the offices of the Lieutenant Governor

Governor of the Falkland Islands

in 1847. Government House

Government House (Falkland Islands)

Government House in Stanley has been the home of the Falkland Islands' London-appointed Governors since the mid-19th century. The official residence was built in 1845....

continued to develop with various additions, formally becoming the Governor's residence in 1859 when Governor Moore

Governor of the Falkland Islands

took residence. Government House remains the residence of the Governor.

Many of the colonists begin to move from Ansons' Harbour

Port Louis, Falkland Islands

to Port Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

. As the new town expanded the population grew rapidly reaching 200 by 1849. The population was further expanded by the arrival of 30 married Chelsea Pensioners

Chelsea pensioner

A Chelsea pensioner is an in-pensioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement home and nursing home for former members of the British Army located in Chelsea, London...

and their families. The Chelsea Pensioners were to form the permanent garrison and police force taking over from the Royal Sappers and Miners Regiment who had garrisoned the early colony.

The Exchange Building opened in 1854, part of the building was later used as a church. 1854 also saw the establishment of Marmont Row, including the Eagle Inn now known as the Upland Goose Hotel

Falkland Islands Holdings

Falkland Islands Holdings plc or FIH is a British conglomerate which plays a key role in the economy of the Falkland Islands through the Falklands Islands Company...

. In 1887 Jubilee Villas were built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee

Golden Jubilee

A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...

of Queen Victoria

Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....

. Jubilee Villas are a row of brick built houses that follow a traditional British pattern, positioned on Ross road near the waterfront they became an iconic image during the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

.

Peat

Peat

Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...

is common on the islands and has traditionally been exploited as a fuel. Uncontrolled exploitation of this natural resource lead to peat slips

Landslide

A landslide or landslip is a geological phenomenon which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rockfalls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments...

in 1878 and 1886. The 1878 peat slip resulted in the destruction of several houses, whilst the 1886 peat slip resulted in the deaths of two women and the destruction of the Exchange Building.

Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral (Falkland Islands)

Christ Church Cathedral on Ross Road, in Stanley, Falkland Islands, is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, consecrated in 1892. It is known for its whalebone arch, made from the jaws of two blue whales, which was raised in 1933....

was consecrated in 1892 and completed in 1903. It received its famous whalebone

Baleen

Baleen or whalebone is a filter-feeder system inside the mouths of baleen whales. The baleen system works when a whale opens its mouth underwater and then water pours into the whale's mouth. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and remain as food...

arch, constructed from the jaws of two Blue Whale

Blue Whale

The blue whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales . At in length and or more in weight, it is the largest known animal to have ever existed....

s in 1933 to commemorate the centenary of continuous British administration. Also consecrated in 1892 was the Tabernacle United Free Church, constructed from an imported timber kit.

Development of agriculture and the Camp

A few years after the British had established themselves in the islands, a number of new British settlements were started. Initially many of these settlements were established in order to exploit the feral

Feral

cattle on the islands. Following the introduction of the Cheviot

Cheviot sheep

The Cheviot is a breed of white faced sheep which gets its name from a range of hills in north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. It is still common in this area of the United Kingdom, but also in north west Scotland, Wales and the south west of England as well as more rarely in Australia,...

breed of sheep to the islands in 1852, sheep farming became the dominant form of agriculture on the Islands.

Salvador Settlement

Salvador Settlement

Salvador Settlement, also called Salvador, Salvador Settlement Corral, is a small harbour and settlement on East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands, It is on the north east coast, on the south shore of Port Salvador...

was one of the earliest, being started in the 1830s, by a Gibraltarian

Gibraltarian people

The Gibraltarians are a cultural group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterranean sea.- Origins :...

immigrant (hence its other name of "Gibraltar Settlement"), and it is still run by his descendants, the Pitalugas.

Vernet furnished Samuel Fisher Lafone, a British merchant operating from Montevideo

Montevideo

Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...

, with details of the Falklands Islands including a map. Sensing that the exploitation of feral cattle on the islands would be a lucrative venture, in 1846 he negotiated a contract with the British Government that gave him exclusive rights to this resource. Until 1846 Moody

Richard Moody

had allotted feral cattle to new settlers and the new agreement not only prevented this but made Stanley dependent upon Lafone for supplies of Beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

.

Cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

were concentrated in the southern part of East Falkland

East Falkland

, an area that became known as Lafonia

Lafonia

. Lafone was an absentee landlord and never actually set foot on the islands. His activities were not monitored by the British and rather than introducing more British settlers as he promised, he brought large numbers of Spanish and Indian Gaucho

Gaucho

s to hunt cattle. In 1846, they established Hope Place

Hope Place

Hope Place was a small settlement in Lafonia in East Falkland. It was set up in 1846, by Samuel Lafone, a Montevideo merchant, on the south shores of Brenton Loch. It was mainly populated by gauchos brought in from continental South America. The area is now abandoned.- See also :* Lafonia* History...

on the south shores of Brenton Loch

Brenton Loch

Brenton Loch is an inlet-cum-small fjord in the Falkland Islands. It is one of a handful of so-called sea lochs outside Scotland. It is sometimes known as "Brenton Sound". "Loch" is normally pronounced as "lock" in the English rather than Scottish manner, i.e. without a fricative "ch"...

and in 1849 a sod wall (the Boca wall) was built across the isthmus at Darwin

Darwin, Falkland Islands

Darwin is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland, lying on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, north of Goose Green...

to control the movement of cattle.

Lafone continued to develop his business interests and in 1849 looked to establish a joint stock company with his London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

creditors. The company was launched as the The Royal Falkland Land, Cattle, Seal and Fishery Company in 1850 but soon thereafter was incorporated under Royal Charter as the The Falkland Islands Company Limited.

Falkland Islands Holdings

Falkland Islands Holdings plc or FIH is a British conglomerate which plays a key role in the economy of the Falkland Islands through the Falklands Islands Company...

Lafone became a director and his brother-in-law J.P.Dale the company's first manager in the Islands. By 1852, the feral cattle had been hunted virtually to extinction by Gauchos and the company switched to sheep farming with the introduction of the Cheviot

Cheviot sheep

breed of sheep. Hope Place proved to be an unsuitable location and the operation moved to Darwin

Darwin, Falkland Islands

Darwin is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland, lying on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, north of Goose Green...

. In 1860, the Lafone Beef contract was terminated but the Falkland Islands Company was given a grant to Lafonia

Lafonia

. Ownership of the remaining cattle outside of Lafonia reverted to the Government and hunting cattle without permission was banned.

In the second half of the 19th century, Darwin

Darwin, Falkland Islands

Darwin is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland, lying on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, north of Goose Green...

, Goose Green

Goose Green

Goose Green is a settlement in Lafonia on East Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It lies on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, south-southwest of Darwin. With a population of about 70, it is the second largest settlement of the Falkland Islands.Goose Green has a shop...

, Fox Bay

Fox Bay

Fox Bay is the second largest settlement on West Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It is located on a bay of the same name, and is on the south east coast of the island...

and Port Howard

Port Howard

Port Howard is the largest settlement on West Falkland . it is in the east of the island, on an inlet of Falkland Sound...

were established. Port Howard was founded by James Lovegrove Waldron, and his brother in 1866; the Waldron brothers later left for Patagonia

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

, but left the farm under local management.

Darwin was initially the haunt of gaucho

Gaucho

s, and cattle farmers, but sheep farming came to dominate the area, and Scottish shepherds were brought in. A few years later, the first large tallow works in the islands (though not the first) was set up by the FIC in 1874. It handled 15,891 sheep in 1880.

From the 1880s, until 1972, Darwin and Fox Bay

Fox Bay

Fox Bay is the second largest settlement on West Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It is located on a bay of the same name, and is on the south east coast of the island...

had their own separate medical officers. Nowadays, most medical care is based in Stanley.

Exploitation of maritime resources

The Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

were used as a base for whaling ships

Whaler

A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...

hunting the Southern Right Whale

Southern Right Whale

The southern right whale is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus Eubalaena. Like other right whales, the southern right whale is readily distinguished from others by the callosities on its head, a broad back without a dorsal fin, and a long arching...

and Sperm Whale

Sperm Whale

The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...

from the 1770s until British authority was established over the islands and surrounding seas. Whaling

Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...

was briefly revived with the establishment of a whaling station on New Island

New Island

New Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying north of Beaver Island. It is from Stanley and is 8 miles long with an average width of 820 yards . The highest point is . The northern and eastern coasts have high cliffs but the eastern coasts are lower lying, with rocky shores and...

from 1909 to 1917 until whaling operations moved to South Georgia

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands, known as the South Sandwich...

.

Fur seals

Fur seal

had long been exploited for their pelts but numbers entered a drastic decline in the early 19th century. As a result seal hunting died off, although continuing at a low level. In order to conserve stocks, a ban on the hunting of fur seals during summers months was enacted in 1881 but it was not until 1921 that hunting was banned entirely.

Elephant seal

Elephant seal

Elephant seals are large, oceangoing seals in the genus Mirounga. There are two species: the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal . Both were hunted to the brink of extinction by the end of the 19th century, but numbers have since recovered...

s were exploited for oil but like the fur seals their numbers declined drastically in the mid-1850s. Sealers instead turned their attention to the South American Sea Lion

South American Sea Lion

The South American sea lion , also called the southern sea lion and the Patagonian sea lion, is a sea lion found on the Chilean, Peruvian, Uruguayan, Argentine and Southern Brazilian coasts. It is the only member of the genus Otaria...

resulting in a dramatic decline in their numbers that made sealing uneconomic. Attempts to revive the trade, including a sealing station at Port Albermarle, were unsuccessful.

Even penguins were exploited for oil. Rockhopper

Southern Rockhopper Penguin

The Southern Rockhopper Penguin group , are two subspecies of rockhopper penguin, that together are sometimes considered distinct from the Northern Rockhopper Penguin...

and Gentoo

Gentoo penguin

The Gentoo Penguin , Pygoscelis papua, is easily recognized by the wide white stripe extending like a bonnet across the top of its head and its bright orange-red bill. The gentoo penguin has pale whitish-pink webbed feet and a fairly long tail - the most prominent tail of all penguins. Chicks have...

penguin

Penguin

Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...

s were rendered down in trypots

Try pot

A try pot is a large pot used to remove and render the oil from blubber obtained from cetaceans, pinnipeds and also to extract oil from penguins. Once a whale had been caught and killed, the process of removing the blubber from the whale began...

from 1860 until the 1880s.

Establishment of communications

Although the first telephone lines were installed by the Falkland Islands Company in the 1880s, the Falkland Islands Government was slow to embrace telephony. It was not until 1897 that a telephone line was installed between Cape Pembroke

Cape Pembroke

Cape Pembroke is the easternmost point of the Falkland Islands, and is on East Falkland. There is an automated lighthouse here.-Lighthouse:An automated lighthouse on Cape Pembroke was built in 1855, and rebuilt in 1906, and was restored in the 1990s...

lighthouse and the police station. The islands isolation was broken in 1911 when Marconi installed a wireless telegraphy station that enabled telegrams to be sent to mainland Uruguay.

A line was laid between Darwin and Stanley, with the ship Consort landing poles on the coast. Construction commenced in 1906 and was finished in 1907 (a length of nearly 50 miles or 80.5 km). The line was initially only for business but the public could make calls occasionally. Lines continued to be laid to most of the major settlements in the islands, with the Falkland Islands police responsible for their maintenance till 1927. Communications among the settlements relied on the telephone network until radio telephones were introduced in the 1950s, although the telephone network continued until 1982. Telecommunications improved dramatically after the Falklands War

Falklands War

, when an earth station was installed to allow direct dialling for the first time. In 1997, an Internet service was launched and by 2002 nearly 90% of Falkland homes had Internet access.

Economic development

A canning factory was opened in 1911 at Goose Green and was initially extremely successful. It absorbed a large proportion of surplus sheep but during the postwar slump suffered a serious loss and closed down in 1921.

Despite this setback, a mere year later, the settlement grew after it became the base for the Falkland Islands Company's sheep farm in Lafonia

Lafonia

in 1922, with improved sheep handling and wool shed being built. In 1927, the settlement's huge sheep shearing shed was built, which is claimed to be the world's largest, with a capacity of five thousand sheep. In 1979, 100,598 sheep were shorn at Goose Green

The mid 20th century saw a number of abortive attempts to diversify the islands' economy away from large scale sheep ranching.

In the period just after the Second World War, Port Albemarle

Port Albemarle

Port Albemarle is a settlement on West Falkland, in the Falkland Islands. It is in the far south of the island, on the east side, at the southern end of Falkland Sound...

in the south west of West Falkland

West Falkland

West Falkland is the second largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. It is a hilly island, separated from East Falkland by Falkland Sound. Its area is and its coastline is long. Including the adjacent small islands the land area is .-Population:The island has fewer than 200...

, was enlarged during the post-WWII period by the Colonial Development Company and included its own power station, jetty, Nissen hut

Nissen hut

A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure made from a half-cylindrical skin of corrugated steel, a variant of which was used extensively during World War II.-Description:...

s etc. - this was an attempt to revive the old sealing industry which had flourished during the 19th century. However, the project proved to be a "white elephant", not least because seal numbers had declined massively.

Similarly, Ajax Bay

Ajax Bay

Ajax Bay is a settlement on East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands, It is on the north west coast, on the shore of San Carlos Water, a few miles from Port San Carlos. It was mainly a refrigeration plant, and was developed by the Colonial Development Corporation in the 1950s, which was also...

on Falkland Sound

Falkland Sound

, was developed by the Colonial Development Corporation in the 1950s, which was also responsible for developing Port Albemarle. It was mainly a refrigeration plant, and was supposed to freeze Falkland mutton, but this was found to be economically unviable, despite the huge expense incurred. Many of the pre-fabricated houses here were moved to Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

. The site later became a British field hospital during the landings of Operation Sutton

Operation Sutton

During the 1982 Falklands War, Operation Sutton was the British landings on the shores of San Carlos Water, at Ajax Bay and Port San Carlos, near the San Carlos on East Falkland. During the night 3 Commando Brigade along with attached units of the Parachute Regiment were landed from the liner SS...

.

The seas around the Falkland Islands were not well policed prior to the Falklands War, and many foreign boats fished off the islands, despite protests that potential revenue was being lost. Fishing licences were only later to be introduced.

Education

In 1956, J.L. Waldron Ltd built a school at Port Howard, possibly inspired by the "gift" of the FIC at Darwin, a few years earlier.

Up until the 1970s, Goose Green was the site of a boarding school, run by the state. "Camp" children boarded here, and there were 40 spaces. The boarding school was later transferred to Stanley, although the recent emphasis has been on locally based education. The school itself became an Argentine HQ, and was burnt down. A new (day) school has been built for local children.

First World War

Port Stanley became an important coaling station for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. This led to ships based there being involved in major naval engagements in both the First

World War I

and Second World Wars.

The strategic significance of the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

was confirmed by the second major naval engagement

Battle of the Falkland Islands

The Battle of the Falkland Islands was a British naval victory over the Imperial German Navy on 8 December 1914 during the First World War in the South Atlantic...

of the First World War

World War I

. Admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

Graf Maximilian von Spee's German East Asia Squadron

German East Asia Squadron

The German East Asia Squadron was a German Navy cruiser squadron which operated mainly in the Pacific Ocean between the 1870s and 1914...

called at the islands on its trip from the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

back to Germany

Germany

, intending to destroy the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

radio relay station and coaling depot there. Unknown to Spee, a British squadron

Squadron (naval)

A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...

, including two battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

s considerably more powerful than his forces, had been sent to hunt down his squadron and happened to be in the harbour coaling. In the one-sided battle which followed, most of Spee's squadron was sunk. Canopus Hill, south of Stanley, is named after HMS Canopus, which had fired the first shot in the battle.

Second World War

In December, 1939 a British naval squadron

Squadron (naval)

A squadron, or naval squadron, is a unit of 3-4 major warships, transport ships, submarines, or sometimes small craft that may be part of a larger task force or a fleet...

comprising HMS Ajax

HMS Ajax (22)

HMS Ajax was a Leander class light cruiser which served with the British Royal Navy during World War II. She became famous for her part in the Battle of the River Plate, the Battle of Crete, the Battle of Malta and as a supply escort in the Siege of Tobruk. This ship was the eighth in the Royal...

, HMS Achilles and HMS Exeter

HMS Exeter (68)

HMS Exeter was a York class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that served in World War II. She was laid down on 1 August 1928 at the Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth, Devon. She was launched on 18 July 1929 and completed on 27 July 1931...

engaged the German Pocket Battleship

Deutschland class cruiser

The Deutschland class was a series of three panzerschiffe , a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the Reichsmarine officially in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles...

Admiral Graf Spee. Despite being outgunned by the 11 inches (279 mm) guns of the Graf Spee, the British squadron aggressively engaged Graf Spee inflicting major damage. The 8 inches (203 mm) guns of Exeter were a more significant threat than the 6 inches (152 mm) guns of Ajax and Achilles and inflicted more serious damage to the Graf Spee. As a result the Graf Spee concentrated fire upon the Exeter inflicting some 40 direct hits and causing major damage. On the 16 December, Exeter limped into Stanley Harbour

Stanley Harbour

Stanley Harbour is a large inlet on the east coast of East Falkland island. A strait called "the Narrows" leads into Port William.It serves the town of the same name - Stanley - as a harbour. Stanley has sprawled along the south shore of the harbour, to gain shelter from the low hill of Stanley...

, with 60 of the 600 crew dead and 49 wounded. The crew had to be boarded out in Stanley as Exeter was too badly damaged. The County class

County class cruiser

The County class was a class of heavy cruisers built for the British Royal Navy in the years between the First and Second World Wars. They were the first post-war cruiser construction for the Royal Navy and were designed within the limits of the Washington Naval Conference of 1922...

heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland, which had been self-refitting in the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

at the time of the battle, steamed to join Ajax and Achilles at the mouth of the River Plate

Río de la Plata

. Convinced by British propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

and false intelligence that a major naval task force awaited his ship and short of ammunition, Captain Langsdorf

Hans Langsdorff

Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff was a German naval officer, most famous for his command of the Panzerschiff Admiral Graf Spee during the Battle of the River Plate. He held the rank of Kapitän zur See....

of the Graf Spee chose instead to scuttle

Scuttling

Scuttling is the act of deliberately sinking a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull.This can be achieved in several ways—valves or hatches can be opened to the sea, or holes may be ripped into the hull with brute force or with explosives...

the ship rather than face the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

Argentine incursions

A series of incidents in the 1960s marked the intensification of Argentine sovereignty claims.

The first of these took place in 1964, when a light plane piloted by Miguel Fitzgerald touched down on the racecourse at Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

. Leaping from the aircraft, he handed a letter claiming sovereignty to a bemused islander

Falkland Islanders

The 2006 census returns gave the population of the Falkland Islands, excluding military personnel and their families, but including staff working at the Mount Pleasant military base to be 2955. There were 1569 males and 1386 females giving a male to female ration of 1.13...

before flying off again. The stunt was timed to coincide with Argentine diplomatic efforts at the UN Decolonisation Committee.

The more serious incident took place in 1966.
An Aerolíneas Argentinas

Aerolíneas Argentinas

Aerolíneas Argentinas , formally Aerolíneas Argentinas S.A., is Argentina's largest airline and serves as the country's flag carrier. Owned in its majority by the Argentine Government, the airline is headquartered in the Torre Bouchard, located in San Nicolás, Buenos Aires...

DC-4

Douglas DC-4

The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...

on an internal flight to Santa Cruz with 35 passengers was hijacked and flown to the Falkland Islands. A group of ardent Argentine nationalists, styling themselves 'Condors', forced the pilot to fly to Stanley. The head of the operation was Dardo Cabo (aged 25 at the time), who walked into the command cabin with a pistol and ordered pilot Ernesto Fernandez Garcia to turn the plane on course one-zero-five. On arrival, they attempted to land at the racecourse but hit telegraph poles and the undercarriage sank into the mud. Islanders, assuming that the plane was in trouble, rushed to assist but found themselves taken hostage by the terrorists (included in the group of four was a young police sergeant, Terry Peck

Terry Peck

Terence John Peck MBE, CPM was a member of the Falkland Islands Defence Force who during the 1982 Falklands War became a war hero by spying on the Argentine invaders, subsequently escaping to British lines, acting as a scout for 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, and taking part in the fighting...

, who became a local hero in the Falklands War

Falklands War

). Les Gleadell, acting Governor of the Falkland Islands, ordered that the DC-4 be surrounded. He received three of the invaders, who announced that they had as much right as anyone to be there and in reply were firmly told that they should disarm and give up. The result of this meeting was an agreement that seven men, including Peck and Captain Ian Martin, commanding a four-man Royal Marines detachment, should be exchanged for the hostages aboard the aircraft. The 26 passengers were then allowed to disembark and sent to lodge with local families, as the island had no hotel. One of the passengers was Admiral Jose Guzmán, the Governor of Tierra del Fuego (which theoretically included the Falklands); on being taken past the governor's residence, he laughingly commented: "Mi casa". After a bitterly cold night in the aircraft, which contained only brandy, wine, orange juice and a few biscuits, the kidnappers still refused to surrender to the government.
After 24 hours, the terrorists surrendered and were detained in an annex to St Mary's Church. Wishing to avoid a prolonged incident, the British Government chose to repatriate the terrorists to Argentina, where they received only nominal prison sentences and were treated as heroes (a plaque was later unveiled in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

honouring their escapade). The significance of this event was later shown when in 2009 it was reported in Merco Press that a monthly pension, equivalent to the basic salary of provincial government staff, would be awarded to the remaining terrorists or the descendants of those who had already died. This incident was timed to coincide with the start of the autumn session of the United Nations.

On October of the same year a group of Argentine naval special forces

Tactical Divers Group

The Tactical Divers Group is the premier special operations force of the Argentine Navy. The Buzos Tácticos are based at Base Naval Mar del Plata on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. Its men are highly qualified combat divers, EOD/demolition technicians, and parachutists.The APBT was the first...

conducted covert landings from the submarine ARA Santiago del Estero

USS Lamprey (SS-372)

USS Lamprey , a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the lamprey, any of certain eel-like aquatic vertebrates....

. The 12-man team, which landed some 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Stanley, was led by Juan Jose Lombardo who later, as Chief of Naval Operations, planned the 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands

1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands

On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious landings of the Falkland Islands . The invasion involved an initial defence force organised by the Falkland Islands' Governor Sir Rex Hunt giving command to Major Mike Norman of the Royal Marines, the landing of Lieutenant-Commander Guillermo...

In November 1968, Miguel Fitzgerald was hired by the Argentine press to attempt a reprise of his 1964 landing. Accompanied by one of the 1966 hijackers, he flew to Stanley but on arrival found he could not land at the racecourse due to obstacles placed following the hijacking. The plane was forced to crash land on Eliza Cove Road, but the two occupants were unharmed. The stunt was intended to coincide with the visit of Lord Chalfont

Alun Jones, Baron Chalfont

Alun Arthur Gwynne Jones, Baron Chalfont, OBE, MC, PC is a British politician.Jones was educated at West Monmouth School, and subsequently at the School of Slavonic Studies in the University of London. He was a Minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1964 to 1970 and appointed to the...

to the islands.

The latter incident proved counter-productive to the Argentine sovereignty push, as Lord Chalfont had been talking to a public meeting at the time of the plane's arrival. The islanders made it plain to Lord Chalfont that they rejected a Memorandum of Agreement negotiated between Britain and Argentina that August which stated that Britain was prepared to discuss sovereignty provided the islanders' wishes were respected. This spurred the formation of the Falkland Islands Committee by London barrister Bill Hunter-Christie and others. The Emergency Committee, as it became known, proved to be an effective lobbying organisation, constantly undermining Foreign Office initiatives on sovereignty negotiations. In December 1968, the lobbying effort managed to force the British Government to state that the islanders' wishes would be paramount.

Growing links with Argentina

Partly as the result of diplomatic pressure, economic and political links with Argentina

Argentina

increased in the 1960s and 70s. These became severed after the end of the Falklands War, but before the War they were not entirely negative, and some islanders sent their children to boarding schools in Argentina.

Realising that any talks on the sovereignty issue would be derailed if it did not meet with the islander's wishes, the British and Argentine Governments enacted a series of measures designed to encourage dependence on Argentina. In 1971, following secret talks between the two Governments (and without consulting the islanders), the communications agreement was signed. The thrust of the agreement was the establishment of direct air and sea links between the islands and Argentina, together with agreements on postal and telephony services. Following the agreement the subsidised shipping link with Montevideo

Montevideo

ended, a passenger and cargo ship service to the mainland (that would ameliorate any dependence on Argentina) was promised by the British but never provided.

Líneas Aéreas del Estado (LADE)

Lade

Lade may refer to:People* Brendon Lade , Australian rules footballer* Sir John Lade , baronet and Regency horse-breeder* Heinrich Eduard von Lade , German banker and amateur astronomer...

, the airline operated by the Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aérea Argentina or FAA)

Argentine Air Force

The Argentine Air Force is the national aviation branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic. , it had 14,606 military and 6,854 civilian staff.-History:...

, began an air link to the islands. Initially this service operated amphibious aircraft

Amphibious aircraft

An amphibious aircraft or amphibian is an aircraft that can take off and land on either land or water. Fixed-wing amphibious aircraft are seaplanes that are equipped with retractable wheels, at the expense of extra weight and complexity, plus diminished range and fuel economy compared to planes...

between Comodoro Rivadavia

Comodoro Rivadavia

Comodoro Rivadavia is a city in the Patagonian province of Chubut in southern Argentina, located on the San Jorge Gulf, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Chenque Hill. Comodoro Rivadavia is the most important city of the San Jorge Basin....

and Stanley using Grumman HU-16 Albatross

HU-16 Albatross

The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large twin-radial engine amphibious flying boat that was utilized by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, primarily as a search and rescue and combat search and rescue aircraft...

aircraft. The inauguration of the service was commemorated by a series of stamps issued by both the Argentine and Falkland Island postal services. In 1972, a temporary airstrip was constructed by Argentina near Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

. Britain constructed a small permanent airstrip in 1976 suitable only for short haul flights.

As part of the agreement, islanders had to travel via Argentina and were forced to carry Argentine Identity Cards issued in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

. The Tarjeta Provisoria or "white card" as they were known were hated by the islanders, who felt they were a de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

Argentine passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

, since only islanders were required to use them and not other temporary residents of the islands. Tensions were raised further with the agreement that male Falkland Islanders would not have to undertake conscription into the Argentine Army

Argentine Army

The Argentine Army is the land armed force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of the country.- History :...

, since this carried the implication that Falkland Islanders were Argentine citizens.

LADE

Lade

Lade may refer to:People* Brendon Lade , Australian rules footballer* Sir John Lade , baronet and Regency horse-breeder* Heinrich Eduard von Lade , German banker and amateur astronomer...

set up an office in Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

and mail was routed through Argentina. Medical treatments unavailable in the islands were provided in Argentina and scholarships were made available for study in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

, Córdoba

Córdoba, Argentina

Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...

and other Argentine cities. Spanish language

Spanish language

teachers were provided by Argentina. Foreign Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...

officials in Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

were instructed to do everything possible to foster good relations between the Islands and Argentina.

The islands became more dependent upon Argentina, when the British and Argentine governments agreed that the islands would be supplied with petrol, diesel and oil by YPF

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales is an Argentine oil company.Founded in 1922 under President Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, it was privatized in 1993 by Carlos Menem, and bought by the Spanish firm Repsol; the resulting merger in 1999 produced Repsol YPF...

, the Argentine national oil and gas company (now part of Repsol YPF

Repsol YPF

Repsol YPF, S.A. is an integrated Spanish oil and gas company with operations in 29 countries...

Despite these tensions relationships between the islanders and the Argentines operating the new services in the islands were cordial. Although there was apprehension, politics were generally avoided and on a one-to-one basis there was never any real hostility.

On the international level, relations began to sour in 1975 when Argentine delegates at the London meeting of the International Parliamentary Union condemned Britain's "act of international piracy" in establishing a colony in the Falkland Islands. Diplomatic relations between Britain and Argentina were broken but resumed in 1976.

In October 1975, the British Government tasked Lord Shackleton

Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC FRS , was a British geographer and Labour Party politician....

(son of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...

) with an economic survey of the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

. The Argentine Government reacted furiously and refused permission for Lord Shackleton

Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC FRS , was a British geographer and Labour Party politician....

to travel via Argentina. Later the ship transporting Shackleton to the islands, the RRS Shackleton

RRS Shackleton

RRS Shackleton was a Royal Research Ship operating in the Antarctic from 1955 to 1992. She is now a seismic survey vessel, MV Sea Profiler.-History:...

, was fired upon by the Argentine destroyer

Destroyer

In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, powerful, short-range attackers. Destroyers, originally called torpedo-boat destroyers in 1892, evolved from...

ARA Almirante Storni

USS Cowell (DD-547)

USS Cowell , a , was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for John G. Cowell .Cowell was launched 18 March 1943 by Bethlehem Steel Co., San Pedro, California, sponsored by Mrs. R. Hepburn; and commissioned 23 August 1943, Commander C. W...

.

In 1976, after a military junta

Military junta

A junta or military junta is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term derives from the Spanish language junta meaning committee, specifically a board of directors...

took control of the country, Argentina covertly established a military base

Corbeta Uruguay

Corbeta Uruguay was an Argentine military outpost established in November 1976 on the island of Thule, Southern Thule, in the South Sandwich Islands. The base was established by order of the then-military junta governing Argentina as a way to back up its territorial claims on British territory in...

on Southern Thule

Southern Thule

Southern Thule is a collection of the three southernmost islands in the South Sandwich Islands: Bellingshausen, Cook, and Thule . Southern Thule is British territory, though claimed by Argentina. The island group is barren, windswept, bitterly cold, and uninhabited. It has an extenzive EEZ rich...

. It was discovered by the British Antarctic Survey

British Antarctic Survey

The British Antarctic Survey is the United Kingdom's national Antarctic operation and has an active role in Antarctic affairs. BAS is part of the Natural Environment Research Council and has over 400 staff. It operates five research stations, two ships and five aircraft in and around Antarctica....

ship RRS Bransfield

RRS Bransfield

RRS Bransfield was an ice-strengthened cargo vessel, purpose-built for the British Antarctic Survey .-History:RRS Bransfield was designed by consultants Graham & Woolnaugh of Liverpool for NERC, and built by Robb Caledon Shipbuilders Ltd, Leith...

in 1977. The British protested but restricted their response to a diplomatic protest. Backing up the diplomatic efforts, the British Prime Minister Jim Callaghan

James Callaghan

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...

sent a naval task force consisting of surface ships and a nuclear submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

. Nevertheless Argentine aircraft and warships harassed ships fishing in Falkland waters.

Lord Shackleton

Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC FRS , was a British geographer and Labour Party politician....

's report was delivered in 1977 and documented the economic stagnation in the islands. It nevertheless concluded that the islands made a net contribution to the British economy and had economic potential for development. Recommendations included oil exploration, exploitation of the fisheries, extension of the Stanley runway, the creation of a development agency, the expansion of the road network, expansion of the facilities at Stanley harbour and the breakdown of absentee landlord owned farms into family units. The report was largely ignored at the time, as it was felt that acting upon it would sour relations with Argentina. A reprise of the report by Lord Shackleton

Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton

Edward Arthur Alexander Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, KG AC OBE PC FRS , was a British geographer and Labour Party politician....

in 1982 following the Falklands War

Falklands War

became the blueprint for subsequent economic development of the islands.

Falklands War

Argentina

invaded the islands on 2 April 1982, using special forces, which landed at Mullet Creek

Mullet Creek

Mullet Creek is a small river in East Falkland. It is not a major watercourse, but is best known for its part in the Falklands War On April 2, 1982, Argentinian marines led by Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots, landed his squadron of special forces at Mullet Creek, and advanced on Stanley...

and advanced on Government House in Stanley, with a secondary force coming in from Yorke Bay. They encountered little opposition, there being only a small force of fifty-seven British marines and eleven sailors, in addition to the Falkland Islands Defence Force

Falkland Islands Defence Force

The Falkland Islands Defence Force is the locally maintained volunteer defence unit in the Falkland Islands. The FIDF works alongside the military units supplied by the United Kingdom to ensure the security of the islands.-History:...

(who were later sent to Fox Bay

Fox Bay

Fox Bay is the second largest settlement on West Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It is located on a bay of the same name, and is on the south east coast of the island...

). There was only one Argentine fatality. The event garnered international attention at a level which the islands had never experienced before, and made them a household name in the UK.

For a brief period, the Falkland Islands found themselves under Argentine control. This included Spanish-language signage, and attempts to make the islanders drive on the right (although few roads in the Falklands at the time actually had two lanes). In many parts of the Camp

Camp (Falkland Islands)

The camp is the term used in the Falkland Islands to refer to any part of the islands outside of the islands' only significant town, Stanley, and often the large RAF base at Mount Pleasant...

, such as Goose Green

Goose Green

and Pebble Island

Pebble Island

Pebble Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying north of West Falkland.The island stretches about 19 miles from east to west and is about 4.3 miles at its widest point, with a total area of square miles .It has three high points: First Mountain , Middle Mountain and...

, the islanders found themselves under house arrest

House arrest

In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to his or her residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all...

.

The British responded with an expeditionary force that landed seven weeks later and, after fierce fighting, forced the Argentine garrison to surrender on 14 June 1982. The war proved to be an anomaly in a number of different respects, not least that it proved that small arms still had a role to play. It also had major consequences for the Junta, which was toppled soon afterwards.

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

's general political legacy remains controversial and divisive within the UK and within the context of the Falklands her government's withdrawal of HMS Endurance is a stated contributing factor to the causes of the conflict because it gave the wrong signals about the UK attitude towards maintaining its possession. However, within the Falklands, she is considered a heroine because of the determination of her response to the Argentine invasion. The islands celebrate Margaret Thatcher Day on every 10 January, and named a street Thatcher Drive after her, in Stanley.

Post-war

Following the war, Britain focused on improving its facilities on the islands. It increased its military presence significantly, building a large base at RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant is a military base for the Royal Air Force in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The facility is part of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands...

and its port at Mare Harbour

Mare Harbour

Mare Harbour Mare Harbour Mare Harbour (Spanish: Puerto Yegua is a small settlement on East Falkland, on Choiseul Sound. It is mostly used as a port facility and depot for RAF Mount Pleasant, as well as a deepwater port used by the Royal Navy ships patrolling the South Atlantic and Antarctica,...

. It also invested heavily in improving facilities in Stanley

Stanley, Falkland Islands

and transportation and infrastructure around the islands, tarmac

Tarmac

Tarmac is a type of road surface. Tarmac refers to a material patented by Edgar Purnell Hooley in 1901...

king the Stanley - Mount Pleasant road and many roads within Stanley. The population has risen due to the growth of Stanley, but has declined in Camp

Camp (Falkland Islands)

The camp is the term used in the Falkland Islands to refer to any part of the islands outside of the islands' only significant town, Stanley, and often the large RAF base at Mount Pleasant...

(the countryside).
Since November 2008, a regular ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

service has linked East

East Falkland

and West

West Falkland

, carrying cars, passengers and cargo serviced by the MV Concordia Bay, a 42.45 m twin-screw shallow draft (2.59 m) landing craft.

A major change to the way the Falkland Islands are governed was introduced by the 1985 constitution. Under the 1985 constitution the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) became a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, with the governor as head of government and representative of the Queen

Monarchy of the United Kingdom

The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...

. Members of the FIG are democratically elected; the Governor is purely a figurehead with no executive powers

Executive (government)

Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...

. Effectively under this constitution, the Falkland Islands are self-governing with the exception of foreign policy, although the FIG represents itself at the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation as the British Government no longer attends.

Links with Argentina became severed during the post-war period, with laws being introduced to forbid Argentine citizens from buying land. An alternative trading partner was found in Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

, and over the years, the islands found themselves with closer links to that country, with flights being introduced to Punta Arenas

Punta Arenas, Chile

Punta Arenas is a commune and the capital city of Chile's southernmost region, Magallanes and Antartica Chilena. The city was officially renamed Magallanes in 1927, but in 1938 it was changed back to Punta Arenas...

, in the far south of Patagonia

Patagonia

n Chile, near Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

. In recent years, Argentines have been allowed to visit the islands again, often to visit the military cemeteries where their friends and loved ones are buried.

Mines continue to be a persistent problem, and though some areas have been cleared, massive minefields are still to be found on both the main islands and elsewhere, particularly in the areas immediately around Stanley. Because peat

Peat

moves over time, the mines themselves have shifted location.

As well as the military build-up, the UK also passed the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983

British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983

The British Nationality Act 1983 was an Act of Parliament passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 28 March 1983...

which granted full British citizenship

British nationality law

British nationality law is the law of the United Kingdom that concerns citizenship and other categories of British nationality. The law is complex because of the United Kingdom's former status as an imperial power.-History:...

to the islanders. High-profile British dignitaries also visited to show British commitment to the islands, including Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

, the Prince of Wales

Charles, Prince of Wales

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...

and Princess Alexandra

Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy

Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy is the youngest granddaughter of King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck. She is the widow of Sir Angus Ogilvy...

. In 1985, the Falkland Islands Dependency was split into the Falkland Islands proper and a new separate territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

.

Relations between the UK and Argentina remained hostile following 1982, and diplomatic relations were not restored until 1989. Although the United Nations General Assembly

United Nations General Assembly

For two articles dealing with membership in the General Assembly, see:* General Assembly members* General Assembly observersThe United Nations General Assembly is one of the five principal organs of the United Nations and the only one in which all member nations have equal representation...

passed a resolution calling for the UK and Argentina to return to negotiations over the Islands' future, the UK ruled out any further talks over the Islands' sovereignty. The UK also maintained an arms embargo

Embargo

An embargo is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Embargoes are considered strong diplomatic measures imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is...

against Argentina that was initiated during the 1982 war, which forced Argentine armed forces, a traditional UK buyer, switch to other markets.
Relations between the UK and Argentina

English settlement in Argentina

English Argentines are citizens of Argentina who can claim ancestry originating in England. The English settlement in Argentina , took place in the period after Argentina's independence from Spain through the 19th century...

improved further in the 1990s. In 1998, Carlos Menem

Carlos Menem

Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...

, the President of Argentina

President of Argentina

The President of the Argentine Nation , usually known as the President of Argentina, is the head of state of Argentina. Under the national Constitution, the President is also the chief executive of the federal government and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.Through Argentine history, the...

visited London, where he reaffirmed his country's claims to the Islands, although he stated that Argentina would use only peaceful means for their recovery. In 2001, Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

visited Argentina where he stated that he hoped the UK and Argentina could resolve their differences that led to the 1982 war. However, no talks on sovereignty took place during the visit. His reception in Argentina was more welcoming than that of Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...

in 1995, who was heckled by the mother of an Argentine soldier killed in the war.

Increased British military presence and new bases

After the war ended, the British still faced the problem of potential Argentine aggression in the future, so an aircraft carrier had to remain on station to guard the islands with its squadron

Squadron (aviation)

A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...

of Sea Harriers until the local airfield was prepared for jet aircraft. HMS Hermes

HMS Hermes (R12)

HMS Hermes was a Centaur-class British aircraft carrier, the last of the postwar conventional aircraft carriers commissioned into the Royal Navy.-Construction and modifications:...

was the first to take guard duty, whilst HMS Invincible

HMS Invincible (R05)

HMS Invincible was a British light aircraft carrier, the lead ship of three in her class in the Royal Navy. She was launched on 3 May 1977 and is the seventh ship to carry the name. She saw action in the Falklands War when she was deployed with , she took over as flagship of the British fleet when...

went north to change a gearbox that had broken while departing the mainland UK, the Argentines claimed the aircraft carrier was hit on 30 May, and needed repairs. Invincible then returned to relieve Hermes which urgently needed to return to the UK to have its boilers cleaned. Invincible returned until the ship was relieved by HMS Illustrious

HMS Illustrious (R06)

HMS Illustrious is the second of three Invincible-class light aircraft carriers built for the Royal Navy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is the fifth warship and second aircraft carrier to bear the name Illustrious, and is affectionately known as "Lusty" to her crew...

, which was quickly rushed south and commissioned during the journey. Once the Port Stanley runway was available for jets, Illustrious was relieved by several RAF Phantoms.

The British government later decided to construct a new RAF base as the centrepiece of plans to considerably strengthen the island's defences. This was intended to deter any future Argentine attempts to take the islands by force again. It was a massive undertaking, requiring the construction of the world's longest corridor, a half-mile long, linking barracks, messes and recreational and the welfare areas of the base. The base is occasionally referred to by its residents as the Death Star

Death Star

The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...

because of its vast size, and sometimes confusing layout.

Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant is a military base for the Royal Air Force in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The facility is part of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands...

, to the west of Stanley, was chosen as the site for the new base. The airfield was opened by The Duke of York

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

Prince Andrew, Duke of York KG GCVO , is the second son, and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

in 1985, and became fully operational in 1986.

Using the IATA airport code

IATA airport code

An IATA airport code, also known an IATA location identifier, IATA station code or simply a location identifier, is a three-letter code designating many airports around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association...

MPN, RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant

RAF Mount Pleasant is a military base for the Royal Air Force in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The facility is part of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands...

also acts as the Falkland Islands' only international airport, in addition to its military role. Flights open to civilian passengers are operated twice-weekly.
These flights are currently operated by a civilian airline on behalf of the Royal Air Force, and fly to and from RAF Brize Norton

RAF Brize Norton

RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force. It is close to the settlements of Brize Norton, Carterton and Witney....

in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

, UK with a refuelling stop at RAF Ascension Island in the south-central Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

. Chilean airline LAN Airlines

LAN Airlines

LAN Airlines S.A. is an airline based in Santiago, Chile. LAN is currently positioned amongst the largest airlines in Latin America, serving Latin America, United States, the Caribbean, Oceania, and Europe. It is a member of the Oneworld airline alliance...

also operate weekly flights from Santiago

Santiago, Chile

Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...

.

In May 2005, some English tabloid newspapers reported that Argentina might be considering another invasion of the Islands. The Sunday Express carried the frontpage headline, "Falklands Invasion Alert" on its 22 May edition, citing an increase in Argentine military activity near the Islands, as well as a reported increase in the British garrison, including a Royal Navy ship allegedly carrying tactical nuclear weapon

Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...

s (the last Royal Navy tactical nuclear weapons were withdrawn in the late 1990s). The only nuclear armed RN vessels in service at the time were the four Vanguard class submarine

Vanguard class submarine

The Vanguard class are the Royal Navy's current nuclear ballistic missile submarines , each armed with up to 16 Trident II Submarine-launched ballistic missiles...

s, which were armed with Trident missile

Trident missile

The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile equipped with multiple independently-targetable reentry vehicles . The Fleet Ballistic Missile is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines . Trident missiles are carried by fourteen...

s. Two days later, India Daily published speculation that the islands could be a nuclear flashpoint in the future if Argentina were to gain a nuclear arsenal, citing the findings of an unnamed international thinktank. There was no official comment on the stories by the British or Argentine governments, and other writers have denounced the stories as "nonsense" - any such invasion would meet with a considerably larger Falklands based British force than in 1982.

Attempts at diversifying the economy

There have been small-scale attempts to diversify the economy of the Falkland Islands since the war, but many of these have failed; instead the island's economy is moving into fishing licences with various foreign interests, which have generated the so-called "Squidocracy". On 14 September 2011 Rockhopper Exploration announced plans are under way for oil production to commence in 2016, through the use of Floating production storage and offloading (FPSO)

Floating Production Storage and Offloading

A floating production, storage and offloading unit is a floating vessel used by the offshore industry for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil. A FPSO vessel is designed to receive hydrocarbons produced from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it...

technology, replicating the methodology used on the Foinaven

Foinaven

Foinaven is a mountain in Scotland, situated in the far north-west corner of the Scottish Highlands. Like many of the monolithic mountains that surround it, the mountain is within the Moine Thrust Belt and is made up of imbricated layers of Cambrian quartzite which overlie the older Lewisian...

field off the Shetland Islands

Shetland Islands

Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...

. The production site will require approximately 110 people working offshore and another 40 working onshore. The oil expected to trade at of the Brent crude price.

Some of the small businesses attempted at Fox Bay

Fox Bay

Fox Bay is the second largest settlement on West Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It is located on a bay of the same name, and is on the south east coast of the island...

have included a market garden, a salmon farm and a knitting mill with "Warrah Knitwear".

One of the biggest growth industries has been tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. The war brought the islands newfound fame, and tourists came both to see the islands' wildlife and go on war tours. Medium-sized cruise ships have started to visit Stanley on a fairly regular basis, frequently as a tie-in to cruises of Antarctica. Nonetheless, the remoteness of the archipelago

Archipelago

, and the lack of direct flights to major cities, have made the islands an expensive holiday destination, and as a result mass tourism has not really begun.

Conservation

In line with the increasing global interest in environmental issues

Environmentalism

Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

, some nature reserves have been set up around the islands, although there are no national parks. In the 1990s, two of the Jason Islands

Jason Islands

, Steeple Jason Island

Steeple Jason Island

Steeple Jason Island is a small island located at , west of the Grand Jason Island. It is a part of the Jason Islands in the Falkland Islands. Along with Grand Jason it is one of the "Islas los Salvajes" in Spanish .-Population and geography:None of the Jason Islands has ever been properly inhabited...

and Grand Jason Island

Grand Jason Island

Grand Jason Island is a small island located at , east of the Steeple Jason Island. It is a part of the Jason Islands in the Falkland Islands, and along with Steeple Jason it is one of the "Islas los Salvajes" in Spanish .-Wildlife:Grand Jason is a home to one of the largest colonies of...

, were bought by New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

philanthropist Michael Steinhardt

Michael Steinhardt

Michael H. Steinhardt is an American investor and philanthropist active in Jewish causes. He was one of the first prominent hedge fund managers, and is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He founded Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co., a hedge fund, in 1967...

, who later donated them to the Bronx Zoo

Bronx Zoo

The Bronx Zoo is located in the Bronx borough of New York City, within Bronx Park. It is the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States, comprising of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows....

-based Wildlife Conservation Society

Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society based at the Bronx Zoo was founded in 1895 as the New York Zoological Society and currently manages some of wild places around the world, with over 500 field conservation projects in 60 countries, and 200 scientists on staff...

. He also gave them US$425,000 to build a conservation station named after himself and his wife Judy.

Likewise in Sea Lion Island

Sea Lion Island

Sea Lion Island is the largest of the Sea Lion Island Group of the Falkland Islands. It is in area. and lies southeast of Lafonia .-Population and history:...

, in 1990, the Clifton family who had owned the island sold it to the Falkland Island Development Company. They had planted 60,000 stands of tussac grass, which was considered important as much of the tussac grass on the two main islands had been depredated by grazing. A similar trend may be seen on Bleaker Island

Bleaker Island

Bleaker Island is one of the Falkland Islands, lying off south east Lafonia . The name is a corruption of "Breaker Island" due to the waves that break on it...

, where the farm "went organic" in 1999.

External links

Falkland Islands History Early history adapted from the ninth edition of an encyclopedia (1879) and other sources.
Falklands Islands History - timeline
1987 American report by Richard D. Chenette, Lieutenant Commander, USN, laying out the history and background of the disputed claims
The History of the Falkland Islands - Chronology
Silas Duncan and the Falkland Islands' Incident
Historia de las Relaciones Exteriores Argentinas, Obra dirigida por Carlos Escudé y Andrés Cisneros, desarrollada y publicada bajo los auspicious del Consejo Argentino para las Relaciones Internacionales (CARI), GEL/Nuevohacer (Buenos Aires), 2000.
History of Falkland Islands
Graham Pascoe and Peter Pepper. Getting it right: The real history of the Falklands/Malvinas. May 2008.

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