Malvinas Day
Encyclopedia
Public holidays in Argentina
The following are the National public holidays and other observances of Argentina.Though holidays of many faiths are respected, public holidays usually include most Catholic holidays...
in 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...
, celebrated each year on April 2. The name refers to the "Malvinas" islands, more commonly known as 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...
in English.
The holiday is a tribute to Argentina's fallen soldiers in 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...
(Guerra de las Malvinas), which began with the Argentine occupation of the islands on April 2, 1982. A total of 649 Argentines, 633 military and 16 civilian, lost their lives during the 74-day campaign.
Malvinas Day was first introduced on November 22, 2000, and replaced the Day of Argentine Sovereignty over the Malvinas, Sandwich
Sandwich Islands
Sandwich Islands was the name given to the Hawaiian Islands by James Cook on one of his voyages in the 1770s. James Cook named the islands after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, a supporter of Cook's voyages...
and South Atlantic Islands (Día de los Derechos Argentinos sobre las Islas Malvinas, Sandwich y del Atlántico Sur) observed on June 10, which had until then commemorated the appointment by Buenos Aires of 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...
as governor of the islands in 1829. Malvinas Day is not observed in the Falklands, although a related holiday called Liberation Day
Liberation Day
Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, or the end of an occupation by another state, thereby differing from independence in the meaning of secession from...
is celebrated on June 14 to mark the end of the war.