Our History | Falkland Islands Government Back Our History The Falkland Islands had no indigenous population prior to their settlement by our ancestors– the Islands were entirely unoccupied. First claimed by Britain in 1765, the British, French and Spanish periodically had garrisons in the Islands until 1811, when all the garrisons were withdrawn. Subsequently, British and American ships frequently visited the islands. On 6th October 1832, an Argentine military garrison landed in an attempt to establish Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, disregarding the British claim of 67 years prior. Less than 3 months later, on 2nd January 1833, the Royal Navy evicted the Argentine military garrison with no loss of life. The civilian population in the Islands, who had sought permission from Britain to live there, were invited to stay. All but two of them, with their partners, did so. A year later, a small, permanent British administration was established. With an increasing population, in 1845 Stanley was founded, and remains our Capital to this day.

We enjoyed a peaceful existence until 1st April 1982, when an Argentine military force invaded our home. For 74 days we lived under foreign occupation, until our liberation by British forces on 14th June 1982. Nearly 1000 Falkland Islands, British and Argentine lives were lost as a result of this act of aggression. Since 1982, our lives have been transformed following the establishment of commercial fisheries. Financially self-sufficient and almost entirely self-governing, we determine our own future and way of life. Our community today has been formed through voluntary immigration and settlement over the course of nearly two hundred years. We are a diverse society, with people from over 60 nations having made the Islands their home. At out heart are those Falkland Islanders whose families have been in the Islands for nine generations. For a comprehensive timeline of events in the Falkland Islands and in South Georgia, you may wish to read Main Events in the History of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia compiled by David Tatham.

The timeline is also available in Spanish here: Principales Eventos en la Historia de las Islas Falkland y Georgia del Sur Historical dates 1592 First recorded sighting on August 14, by English sea captain John Davis in the ship ‘Desire’. 1594 First recorded claim on February 2, by Richard Hawkins for Queen Elizabeth I 1690 First recorded landing made by English navigator, Captain John Strong in his ship the ‘Welfare’. He named the channel dividing the two main islands ‘Falkland Sound’ after Viscount Falkland, then Treasurer of the Royal Navy. Over the years several French ships visited the Islands, which they called Les Iles Malouines after the French port of St. Malo. 1740 Lord Anson passed the Islands on an exploration voyage and urged Britain to consider them as a preliminary step to establishing a base near Cape Horn. 1764 The French diplomat and explorer, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, established a settlement at Port Louis on East Falkland. 1765 Unaware of the French settlement, Commodore John Byron landed at Port Egmont on West Falkland and took possession of the Islands for the British Crown.

1766 Captain John MacBride established a British settlement at Port Egmont. The Spanish Government protested about the French settlement and Bougainville was forced to surrender his interests in the Islands in return for an agreed sum of money. A Spanish Governor was appointed and Port Louis was renamed Puerto de la Soledad, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Captain-General of Buenos Aires; then a Spanish colony. 1770 British forced from Port Egmont by the Spanish. 1771 Serious diplomatic negotiations involving Britain, Spain and France produce the Exchange of Declarations, whereby Port Egmont was restored to Britain. 1774 Britain withdrew from Port Egmont on economic grounds as part of a redeployment of forces due to the approaching American War of Independence, leaving behind a plaque as the mark of continuing British sovereignty. 1786 Lieutenant Thomas Edgar RN charts West Falkland island. 1811 The Spanish garrison withdrew from Puerto de la Soledad. At this time, South American colonies were in a state of revolt against Spain. 1816 The provinces which constituted the old Spanish vice-royalty declared independence from Spain as the United Provinces of the River Plate. Spain refused to recognise any such independence.

1820 A Buenos Aires privateer claimed the Falkland Islands in what was probably an unauthorised act – which was never reported to the Buenos Aires government. No occupation followed this. 1823 A private attempt was made to establish a settlement on the Islands, but this failed after a few months. The organisers requested the Buenos Aires government to appoint one of their employees the unpaid ‘Commander’ of the settlement. 1825 Britain and the Government of Buenos Aires signed a Treaty of Amity, Trade and Navigation without including and recognition of territory or legal rights. 1826 Louis Vernet, a naturalised citizen of Buenos Aires (originally French with German connections), undertook a private venture and established a new settlement at Puerto de la Soledad, having first informed the British Consul. 1829 Buenos Aires announced a claim to the Falkland Islands based on inheritance from Spain. Luis Vernet was appointed unpaid Commander of Soledad and Tierra del Fuego. Britain registered a formal protest, asserting her own sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. Vernet made the first of several approaches to Britain then to re-assert its sovereignty over the Islands.

Earlier he had got the British Consul in Buenos Aires to countersign his land grants. 1831 Vernet seized three American sealing ships, in an attempt to control fishing in Falkland waters. In retaliation, the US sloop ‘Lexington’ destroyed Puerto de la Soledad, and proclaimed the Islands ‘free of all government’. Most of the settlers were persuaded to leave on board the ‘Lexington’. 1832 Diplomatic relations between the US and Argentina broke down until 1844. Supporting Britain, the US questioned the claim that all Spanish possessions had been transferred to the Government of Buenos Aires and confirmed its use of the Falklands as a fishing base for over 50 years. The US declared that Spain had exercised no sovereignty over several coasts to which Buenos Aires claimed to be heir, including Patagonia. Buenos Aires appointed an interim Commander to the Islands, Commander Mestivier, who arrived in October (with a tiny garrison and some convicts). Britain’s Minister protested once more. December 20, Commander Onslow, aboard Clio, returned to Port Egmont and rebuilds the fort.

1833 Commander Mestivier had been murdered by his own men by the time Captain Onslow sailed from Port Egmont in the warship ‘Clio’ and took command of Port Louis for Britain. The remains of the garrison from Buenos Aires left peacefully. Buenos Aires protested, only to be told: “The British Government upon this occasion has only exercised its full and undoubted right … The British Government at one time thought it inexpedient to maintain any Garrison in those Islands: It has now altered its views, and has deemed it proper to establish a Post there.” Since this time, British administration has remained unbroken apart from a ten week Argentine occupation in 1982. 1845 Stanley officially became the capital of the Islands when Governor Moody moved the administration from Port Louis. The capital was so named after the Colonial Secretary of the day, Edward Geoffrey Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby. 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands, one of the major naval engagements of the First World War in which British victory secured the Cape Horn passage for the remainder of the war.

1947 The Falkland Islands are listed at the United Nations as a Non-Self Governing Territory (NSGT) subject to the UN’s decolonisation process. 1960 UN Resolution 1514 grants the right of Self-Determination to all peoples of NSGTs. 1965 United Nations Assembly passed Resolution 2065, following lobbying by Argentina. This reminded members of the organisation’s pledge to end all forms of colonialism. Argentine and British Governments were called upon to negotiate a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute, bringing the issue to international attention formally for the first time. 1966 Through diplomatic channels, Britain and Argentina began discussions in response to UN Assembly pressure. 1967 The Falkland Islands Emergency Committee was set up by influential supporters in the UK to lobby the British Government against any weakening on the sovereignty issue. In April, the Foreign Secretary assured the House of Commons that the Islanders’ interests were paramount in any discussions with Argentina. 1971 Communications Agreement was signed by the British and Argentine governments whereby external communications would be provided to the Falkland Islands by Argentina.

1982 On 2 April Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands and diplomatic relations between the two nations were broken off. Argentine troops occupied the Islands for ten weeks before being defeated by the British. The Argentines surrendered on 14 June, now known as Liberation Day. 1990 Diplomatic relations between Britain and Argentina were restored. 1999 At the instigation of, and with the involvement of, Falkland Islands Councillors, a Joint Statement was signed between the British and Argentine Governments on 14 July. This was designed ‘to build confidence and reduce tension’ between the Islands and Argentina. Two Councillors from the Islands witnessed the signing on behalf of the Falkland Islands Government. 2009 Following almost ten years of discussion and negotiation, a new Constitution for the Falkland Islands took effect on 1 January 2009. Marking an important milestone in the history of the Falkland Islands, the new Constitution provides enhanced local democracy and internal self-government, and enshrines the right of self-determination. 2013 Referendum held in March, overseen by international observers.

Falkland Islanders voted to determine their future, 99.8% of the electorate voted YES to maintaining current political status as a British Overseas Territory. To speak to a Falkland Islands Government representative in London, please call: +44 (0)20 7222 2542 To speak to a Falkland Islands Government representative in Stanley, please call: +500 27451 Follow us on Twitter! @FalklandsGov Please get in touch by email by clicking on this link Related Gallery Falkland Islands War | Argentina-United Kingdom | Britannica.com Falkland Islands War Alternative Titles: Falklands War, Malvinas War, South Atlantic War Related Topics Falkland Islands War, also called Falklands War, Malvinas War, or South Atlantic War, a brief undeclared war fought between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982 over control of the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and associated island dependencies.

The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano sinking after being torpedoed … AP The outbreak of conflict Argentina had claimed sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, which lie 300 miles (480 km) east of its coast, since the early 19th century, but Britain seized the islands in 1833, expelling the few remaining Argentine occupants, and since then consistently rejected Argentina’s claims. In early 1982 the Argentine military junta led by Lieut. Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri gave up on long-running negotiations with Britain and instead launched an invasion of the islands. The decision to invade was chiefly political: the junta, which was being criticized for economic mismanagement and human rights abuses, believed that the “recovery” of the islands would unite Argentines behind the government in a patriotic fervour. An elite invasion force trained in secrecy, but its timetable was shortened on March 19 when a dispute erupted on British-controlled South Georgia island, where Argentine salvage workers had raised the Argentine flag, 800 miles (1,300 km) east of the Falklands. Naval forces were quickly mobilized.

Argentine troops invaded the Falklands on April 2, rapidly overcoming the small garrison of British marines at the capital Stanley (Port Stanley); they obeyed orders not to inflict any British casualties, despite losses to their own units. The next day Argentine marines seized the associated island of South Georgia. By late April Argentina had stationed more than 10,000 troops on the Falklands, although the vast majority of these were poorly trained conscripts, and they were not supplied with proper food, clothing, and shelter for the approaching winter. As expected, the Argentine populace reacted favourably, with large crowds gathering at the Plaza de Mayo (in front of the presidential palace) to demonstrate support for the military initiative . In response to the invasion, the British government under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared a war zone for 200 miles (320 km) around the Falklands. The government quickly assembled a naval task force built around two aircraft carriers, the 30-year-old HMS Hermes and the new HMS Invincible light carrier, and two cruise ships pressed into service as troop carriers, the Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Canberra. The carriers sailed from Portsmouth on April 5 and were reinforced en route.

Most European powers voiced support for Great Britain, and European military advisers were withdrawn from Argentine bases. However, most Latin American governments sympathized with Argentina. A notable exception was Chile , which maintained a state of alert against its neighbour because of a dispute over islands in the Beagle Channel . The perceived threat from Chile prompted Argentina to keep most of its elite troops on the mainland, distant from the Falklands theatre. In addition, Argentine military planners had trusted that the United States would remain neutral in the conflict, but, following unsuccessful mediation attempts, the United States offered full support to Great Britain, allowing its NATO ally to use its air-to-air missiles, communications equipment, aviation fuel, and other military stockpiles on British-held Ascension Island , as well as cooperating with military intelligence. The course of the conflict Similar Topics War of 1812 On April 25, while the British task force was steaming 8,000 miles (13,000 km) to the war zone via Ascension Island, a smaller British force retook South Georgia island, in the process capturing one of Argentina’s vintage U.S.-made diesel-electric submarines.

On May 2 the obsolete Argentine cruiser General Belgrano (purchased from the United States after World War II) was sunk outside the war zone by a British nuclear-powered submarine . Following this controversial event, most other Argentine ships were kept in port, and the Argentine navy’s contribution was limited to its naval air force and one of its newer German-made diesel-electric submarines. The latter posed more of a threat to the British fleet than was expected, launching torpedo attacks that narrowly failed. The Falkland Islands War zone (left) and route of British landing forces (right). Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. EU Considers Rules For Robots Meanwhile, the British naval force and the land-based Argentine air forces fought pitched battles. Argentine aircraft consisted mainly of several dozen old U.S. and French fighter-bombers armed only with conventional high-explosive bombs and lacking electronic countermeasures or radar for acquiring targets. That they proved as effective as they did was a testimony to the skill and motivation of their pilots. In addition, the Argentine navy had recently taken delivery of a few new French-made Super Etendard attack aircraft armed with the newest Exocet antiship missiles; though only a handful in number, these proved particularly deadly.

Because the Falklands were at the extreme edge of the Argentine aircraft’s combat radius, the planes could take only one pass at the task force. British ships therefore remained out of range except when closing in to attack Argentine positions. British Culture and Politics For the British, the problem was their dependence on two aircraft carriers, as the loss of one would almost certainly have forced withdrawal. Air cover was limited to perhaps 20 short-range Sea Harrier naval jets armed with air-to-air missiles. To make up for the lack of long-range air cover, a screening force of destroyers and frigates was stationed ahead of the fleet to serve as radar pickets. However, not all of them were armed with full antiaircraft systems or close-in weapons for shooting down incoming missiles. This left the British ships vulnerable to attack, and on May 4 the Argentines sank the destroyer HMS Sheffield with an Exocet missile. The Argentines, meanwhile, lost some 20–30 percent of their planes. Thus weakened, the Argentines were unable to prevent the British from making an amphibious landing on the islands. Apparently expecting a direct British assault, the Argentine ground-forces commander, Gen.

Mario Menéndez, centralized his forces around the capital of Stanley to protect its vital airstrip. Instead, the British navy task-force commander, Rear Adm. John Woodward , and the land-force commander, Maj. Gen. Jeremy Moore, decided to make their initial landing near Port San Carlos , on the northern coast of East Falkland , and then mount an overland attack on Stanley. They calculated that this would avoid casualties to the British civilian population and to the British forces. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest The British landed unopposed on May 21, but the Argentine defenders, some 5,000 strong, quickly organized an effective resistance, and heavy fighting was required to wear it down. The Argentine air forces, meanwhile, kept up their attacks on the British fleet, sinking two frigates, a destroyer, a container ship carrying transport helicopters, and a landing ship disembarking troops. In addition, they damaged several other frigates and destroyers. Nevertheless, they were not able to damage either aircraft carrier or sink enough ships to jeopardize British land operations. They also lost a considerable portion of their remaining jets as well as their Falklands-based helicopters and light ground-attack planes.

From the beachhead at Port San Carlos, the British infantry advanced rapidly southward, through forced marches under extremely adverse weather conditions, to capture the settlements of Darwin and Goose Green. After several days of hard fighting, some of it hand-to-hand, against determined Argentine troops dug in along several ridgelines, the British succeeded in taking and occupying the high ground west of Stanley. With British forces surrounding and blockading the capital and main port, it was clear that the large Argentine garrison there was cut off and could be starved out. Menéndez therefore surrendered on June 14, effectively ending the conflict. British forces removed a small Argentine garrison from one of the South Sandwich Islands , some 500 miles (800 km) southeast of South Georgia, on June 20. Costs and consequences The British captured some 11,400 Argentine prisoners during the war, all of whom were released afterward. Argentina announced that about 650 lives had been lost—about half of them in the sinking of the General Belgrano—while Britain lost 255.

Military strategists have debated key aspects of the conflict but have generally underscored the roles of submarines (both Britain’s nuclear-powered vessels and Argentina’s older, diesel-electric craft) and antiship missiles (both air-to-sea and land-to-sea types). The war also illustrated the importance of air superiority—which the British had been unable to establish—and of advanced surveillance. Logistic support was vital as well, because the armed forces of both countries had operated at their maximum ranges. (See also naval warfare: The age of the guided missile .) Britannica Lists & Quizzes Falkland Islands profile - BBC News BBC News Read more about sharing. Close share panel The isolated and sparsely-populated Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean, remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Britain and Argentina, who waged a brief but bitter war over the territory in 1982. Argentine forces, who had landed on the Falklands to stake a territorial claim, were ejected by a British military task force. Argentina says it has a right to the islands, which it calls the Malvinas, because it inherited them from the Spanish crown in the early 1800s.

It has also based its claim on the islands' proximity to the South American mainland. Britain rests its case on its long-term administration of the Falklands and on the principle of self-determination for the islanders, who are almost all of British descent. The windswept and almost-treeless territory is made up of two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, as well as hundreds of smaller islands and islets. Some key dates in the history of the Falklands: Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The wreck of the Lady Elizabeth, built in the 1800s, has been a feature of the islands for a century 1690 - English captain makes first recorded landing on Falklands. 1764 - First settlement founded on East Falkland by French navigator. 1765 - British settle West Falkland. They are driven off by the Spanish in 1770 but return in 1771, only to withdraw again in 1774. 1820 - Independent Argentina proclaims sovereignty over the Falklands. 1831 - US warship destroys Argentine settlement in reprisal for the arrest of three US vessels hunting seals.

1833 - British force expels remaining Argentine officials from the island and installs a governor. Argentina continually protests against British occupation. 1965 - UN resolution invites Britain and Argentina to discuss ways of finding a peaceful solution to their dispute. 1982 - Argentina invades, prompting Falklands War. 1990 - Argentina and Britain restore diplomatic relations, severed in 1982. 2013 - Islanders vote to remain a British overseas territory. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption British troops, pictured landing on the Falklands, ejected the Argentine invaders after a 72-day conflict 1833 | Falklands News Falklands News 23 Mar Argentina’s Foreign Minister, Hector Timerman is due to hold meetings this coming week with both the United Nation’s Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Special Committee on Decolonization, Diego Morejón Pazmiño. The meetings are due to be held in New York and Timerman is expected yet again to raise his country’s claim to the British Falkland Islands.

Argentina maintains that the United Kingdom is in breach of several United Nations’ Resolutions demanding that the UK sit down and negotiate the issue of sovereignty over the Islands with the Government in Buenos Aires. The recent display of self-determination by the Falkland Islanders through the process of a referendum, has disturbed the Government of Cristina Fernandez which wishes to discuss the matter with the two figures at the UN. Ban Ki-moon has recently rubbished the idea that the UK, as a permanent member of the UN’s Security Council, is in breach of any relevant UN Resolutions on the subject of the Falkland Islands. Pazmiño, on the other hand, does not believe that the Falklands should be on the UN’s decolonization list as he does not think the matter is one concerning decolonization but is purely a sovereignty dispute. Argentina claims that British forces destroyed their fledgling colony on East Falkland in 1833 after they had ‘inherited’ the archipelago from Spain in 1816. The UK’s claim however goes back to 1765 and the British Government in 1829 clearly warned Buenos Aires of its ownership, and to stay away.

Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982 but were thrown off by a British Task Force. Argentina raises the issue every year at the UN but there have been no UN General Assembly Resolutions on the matter since 1988. Falkland Islands - definition of Falkland Islands by The Free Dictionary Falkland Islands - definition of Falkland Islands by The Free Dictionary Falk·land Islands (fôk′lənd, fôlk′-) In Spanish Is·las Mal·vi·nas (ēs′läs mäl-vē′näs) A group of islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean east of the Strait of Magellan. Controlled by Great Britain since the 1830s, the islands are also claimed by Argentina and were occupied briefly by Argentinian troops in 1982 before being reoccupied by British forces.

Falkland Islands (ˈfɔːlklənd) pl n (Placename) a group of over 100 islands in the S Atlantic: a UK Overseas Territory; invaded by Argentina, who had long laid claim to the islands, on 2 April 1982; recaptured by a British expeditionary force on 14 June 1982. Chief town: Stanley. Pop: 3140 (2008 est). Area: about 12 200 sq km (4700 sq miles). Spanish name: Islas Malvinas Falk′land Is′lands (ˈfɔk lənd) n.pl. a group of islands in the S W Atlantic, E of Argentina, constituting a self-governing British colony. 2374; 4618 sq. mi. (11,961 sq. km). Cap.: Stanley. Spanish, Islas Malvinas. ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend: Noun 1.

Falkland Islands - a group of over 100 islands in the southern Atlantic off the coast of Argentina; a British Crown Colony Atlantic , Atlantic Ocean - the 2nd largest ocean; separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa on the east Translations February 1833: Parallel truths in parallel universes: can that be the only explanation? — MercoPress Thomas Bridges and family from Keppel Island mission in the Falklands helped found Ushuaia Port Louis looking peaceful around 1834 By John Fowler - According to the Argentine view of things, the Falkland Islands are Las Islas Malvinas and the capital city is not Stanley, which was founded in 1844, but Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, which did not really begin to be a town till 1881 with the establishment of a penal colony there. The place does have links with the Falkland Islands however as the first European family to settle there among the native Indians, were the Bridges. These British missionaries, who had previously run the South American Mission on Keppel Island, in the Falklands, built the first house in Ushuaia in 1870.

Continuing with what we would consider to be the fictitious Argentine view, which almost amounts to a belief in a parallel universe, our regional newspaper is not the Penguin News, but El Diario del Fin del Mundo, (The End of the World’s Newspaper) published in Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. This is an excellent daily paper, which comes out from Monday to Friday and has recently, during our troubles with cruise ships, often proved a useful source of information. Many local newspapers, including the Penguin News on occasion, make good a lack of current newsworthy events by trawling their archives, usually under a heading such as “On This Day.” El Diario del Fin del Mundo is no exception and on February 8, this year they took a look back to the same date in 1833.

Under the headline, “Esto pasó en nuestra región: Fusilan a los siete asesinos del comandante de islas Malvinas” (This happened in our region: they shot the seven killers of the Commander of the Falkland Islands) the readers of the paper are reminded of the event which forms a crucial part of the historical basis for the Argentine Government’s sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands. The odd thing about this report by an Argentine newspaper, in Argentina, aimed at Argentine readership, is that the account that they give of the event does not appear to be entirely the officially sanctioned one, which tells of a civilian population cruelly expelled from their homes by the might of the imperialistic British. In the report, we are told about the mutiny and murder by shooting and bayoneting on November 30 1832, of José Francisco Mestivier, the artillery sergeant major in charge of a garrison of 50 soldiers which had arrived in the Islands in early October. We also are told that the members of this garrison had arrived with their wives because the intention was that they should settle in the Islands.

We are told as well that this group was “made up of deportees, criminals, and vagabonds who had been condemned to serve in the military; this being the first rehearsal for forming a southern penal colony.” (Integrada por deportados, criminales y vagabundos condenados a servir como uniformados; siendo este el primer ensayo de colonia penal austral). The article informs us that while José Maria Pinedo, the captain of an Argentine ship, was trying to capture the seven mutineers who had murdered their commander, the British corvette HMS Clio arrived under Captain Onslow. It is here that the version of events, as described by the newspaper of the region to which the Falkland Islands supposedly belongs, departs from that repeated so fervently by Argentina’s President and her ministers. True, we are told that Captain Onslow announces that he has orders to take possession of the Islands in the name of the British Crown, (reasonable, given that we have claimed sovereignty over the Islands since the 18th Century) and gives him 24 hours in which take down the Argentine flag.

When Pinedo protests at this, we are told that far from exercising brutal force, the British captain tells him that “he would have the honour of conveying his protests in writing”. The myth-exploding bit comes at the end of the article, as follows: “On the fourth of January, the Argentine ship left carrying the news of the dispossession. Among its passengers were the murderers of Mestivier, to be judged for mutiny and the crime against their superior officer, which ended with the seven soldiers facing a firing squad. Pinedo also was court marshalled and was removed from the ranks of the Navy because of his passivity in the face of the British invasion. The Clio also left later on. Then the Islands remained inhabited by a few British officials and the employees of Vernet’s establishment”. It is these “civilian employees of Vernet”, a merchant born in Hamburg and a controversial figure, who some claim to be the first Argentine Governor of the Falklands, but who also sought the permission of the British to establish a settlement in Port Louis, who, according to the ‘official’ Argentine history, make up the population which was supposedly driven out the Falkland Islands in 1833.

(Unfortunately, some of them were shortly to be murdered at Port Louis by gauchos led by the Argentine folk hero Rivero, who disliked being paid with Vernet’s own paper money, when they preferred being paid by the Royal Navy in gold). According to research in the National Archives of Argentina and elsewhere by historians Peter Pepper and Graham Pascoe, of the 33 civilian residents of Port Louis when HMS Clio arrived, 22 remained when it left. Twelve were from Argentina (8 gauchos, 3 women and 1 child), four were Charrúa Indians from Uruguay, two British, two German, one French and one from Jamaica.

Although the account of the events of February 8, 1833 given by the Diario del Fin del Mundo is so different from that of the official Argentine propaganda, it matches that given by Pepper and Pascoe in their 2008 publication, “Getting it Right: the Real History of the Falkland Islands.” Pepper and Pascoe record that Onslow had orders not to molest any civilian inhabitants he might find, orders which he obeyed scrupulously, even going to great lengths to persuade the inhabitants of Port Louis to remain, as their presence as suppliers of fresh meat to visiting ships was of great importance.

Even Captain Pinedo in his report made on his return to Buenos Aires, said that Onslow had told him that: “…those inhabitants who freely wished it should remain and both they and their property would be respected as before….” I don’t personally believe that the events of 1833 are particularly significant in the sovereignty debate, when compared to the rights implicit in the 180 or so years of peaceful and voluntary settlement that followed (not counting the 74 days following the Argentine invasion in 1982), but if over half the population who remained in Port Louis after the alleged ethnic cleansing in 1833 were Argentines and the newspaper of the nearest Argentine province to the Falkland Islands believes this to be true, why is it so difficult for Argentina’s President and her Foreign Secretary to grasp? *El 4 de enero, partió el barco argentino llevando la noticia del despojo. Entre sus viajeros se encontraban los asesinos de Mestivier, para ser juzgados por el motín y el crimen de su superior, que culminó con el fusilamiento de siete soldados.

Pinedo también fue procesado y separado de las filas de la Marina, por su pasividad ante la invasión inglesa. Luego, también se marchó la Clio. Entonces en las islas sólo quedaron unos pocos funcionarios británicos y los empleados del establecimiento de Vernet. El Diario del Fin del Mundo February 8, 2013 When the truth comes up against propoganda the truth will always prevail. Feb 15th, 2013 - 08:08 pm 0 Doveoverdover According to the DoD view of things, Las Islas Malvinas are the Falkland Islands and the capital city is not Stanley, which was founded in 1844, but London in England, which did not really begin to be a town until AD 43 with the establishment of a Roman colony there. Feb 15th, 2013 - 08:09 pm 0 HansNiesund Excellent. A contemporaneous account, for once, and a fine piece of piece of troll-busting. But note that the official line seems to have changed.

The pamphlet produced for the London Timerman show talks only of the expulsion of the argentine authorities and their families. Which curiously enough, corresponds to the British version and all the available evidence, including this. Argentina invades Falklands - Apr 02, 1982 - HISTORY.com Argentina invades Falklands Publisher A+E Networks On April 2, 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands Islands, a British colony since 1892 and British possession since 1833. Argentine amphibious forces rapidly overcame the small garrison of British marines at the town of Stanley on East Falkland and the next day seized the dependent territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. The 1,800 Falkland Islanders, mostly English-speaking sheep farmers, awaited a British response. The Falkland Islands, located about 300 miles off the southern tip of Argentina, had long been claimed by the British. British navigator John Davis may have sighted the islands in 1592, and in 1690 British Navy Captain John Strong made the first recorded landing on the islands.

He named them after Viscount Falkland, who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. In 1764, French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville founded the islands’ first human settlement, on East Falkland, which was taken over by the Spanish in 1767. In 1765, the British settled West Falkland but left in 1774 for economic reasons. Spain abandoned its settlement in 1811. In 1816 Argentina declared its independence from Spain and in 1820 proclaimed its sovereignty over the Falklands. The Argentines built a fort on East Falkland, but in 1832 it was destroyed by the USS Lexington in retaliation for the seizure of U.S. seal ships in the area. In 1833, a British force expelled the remaining Argentine officials and began a military occupation. In 1841, a British lieutenant governor was appointed, and by the 1880s a British community of some 1,800 people on the islands was self-supporting. In 1892, the wind-blown Falkland Islands were collectively granted colonial status.

For the next 90 years, life on the Falklands remained much unchanged, despite persistent diplomatic efforts by Argentina to regain control of the islands. In 1981, the Falkland Islanders voted in a referendum to remain British, and it seemed unlikely that the Falklands would ever revert to Argentine rule. Meanwhile, in Argentina, the military junta led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri was suffering criticism for its oppressive rule and economic management, and planned the Falklands invasion as a means of promoting patriotic feeling and propping up its regime. In March 1982, Argentine salvage workers occupied South Georgia Island, and a full-scale invasion of the Falklands began on April 2. Under orders from their commanders, the Argentine troops inflicted no British casualties, despite suffering losses to their own units. Nevertheless, Britain was outraged, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher assembled a naval task force of 30 warships to retake the islands. As Britain is 8,000 miles from the Falklands, it took several weeks for the British warships to arrive.

On April 25, South Georgia Island was retaken, and after several intensive naval battles fought around the Falklands, British troops landed on East Falkland on May 21. After several weeks of fighting, the large Argentine garrison at Stanley surrendered on June 14, effectively ending the conflict. Britain lost five ships and 256 lives in the fight to regain the Falklands, and Argentina lost its only cruiser and 750 lives. Humiliated in the Falklands War, the Argentine military was swept from power in 1983, and civilian rule was restored. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher’s popularity soared after the conflict, and her Conservative Party won a landslide victory in 1983 parliamentary elections. Related Videos

Question: Which group of islands were claimed by the British in 1833?
Answer: The Falkland Islands