Found long ago at the bottom of this prehistoric sea, the place we know in our time as the Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas was forced to the surface ultimately by geological forces. Seen from the air, the hundreds of islands in the archipelago seem like extravagantly curved pieces, gigantic and tiny, of a jigsaw puzzle colored in soft shades of green and brown. Their edges are sharp against the backdrop of the dark-blue South Atlantic. Somewhere between 2,500 and 3,000 people live here. Metal roofs, painted red, green, blue and yellow, brighten the tiny port town, along with colored fences, brilliant gardens in the summer, and sky-blue wastebins marked with the island's seal.
Handwritten signs posted on shop doors tell customers the latest hours and featured offerings.
Several pubs, including the Globe Tavern, Deano's and Victory Bar, entertain locals as well as visiting mariners from the dozens of fishing ships that work the nearby waters, crews from cruise ships headed to the Antarctic, and members of the British military. Stanley's residents, however, are only the latest wave of people to put their mark here. Humans have inhabited these remote islands since at least the mid-1700s, when settlers from England, France and Spain all made a go at claiming the islands as their home. Even then, countries vied over title to the land. Many have left behind traces of their existence.