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Falkland Is & Dependencies

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The Falkland Islands, also called The Malvinas, are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located 300 miles (483 kilometres) from the coast of South America, 671 miles (1080 km) west of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (Shag Rocks), and 584 miles (940 km) north of Antarctica (Elephant Island). They consist of two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, together with about 700 smaller islands. Stanley, on East Falkland, is the capital and largest city. The islands are a self-governing Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, but have been the subject of a claim to sovereignty by Argentina since the early years of Argentina's independence from Spain.

In 1982 the islands were invaded by Argentina, precipitating the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom, which resulted in the defeat and withdrawal of Argentine forces. Since the war there has been strong economic growth in both fisheries and tourism. The inhabitants of the islands, who are of mainly Scottish descent, are British citizens, and support British sovereignty.

Name

The islands are referred to in the English language as " Falkland Islands". This name dates from an expedition led by John Strong in 1690, who named the islands after his patron, Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland. The Spanish name for the islands, "Islas Malvinas", is derived from the French name "Îles Malouines", bestowed in 1764 by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, after the mariners and fishermen from the Breton port of Saint-Malo who became the island's first known human settlers.

The Falkland Islanders, as well as many others, tend to consider as offensive the use of the name Malvinas, as for them it has an association with Argentina's military invasion of the islands in 1982. Some English-language media sources use the ISO designation of "Falkland Islands (Malvinas)".

History

The Falkland Islands have had a complex history since their discovery, with France, Britain, Spain and Argentina all claiming possession and establishing as well as abandoning settlements on the islands. The Spanish government's claim was continued by Argentina after the latter's independence in 1816 and the independence war in 1817, until 1833 when the United Kingdom took by force control of the islands, following the destruction of the Argentine settlement at Puerto Soledad by the American sloop USS Lexington (December 28, 1831). Argentina has continued to claim sovereignty over the islands, and the dispute was used by the military junta dictatorship as an excuse to invade and briefly occupy the islands before being defeated in the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War in 1982 by a United Kingdom task force which returned the islands to British control.