History of the Falkland Islands
Background:
The Falkland Islands were first seen by
Davis in
1592, and Sir Richard Hawkins sailed along their north shore in
1594. In
1598, Sebald de Weert, a Dutchman, visted them and called them the Sebald Islands, a name which they bore on some Dutch maps into the 19th century. Captain John Strong sailed between the two principal islands in
1690, and called the passage Falkland Sound, and from this the island group afterwards took its English name. In
1763 the islands were taken possession of by the French, who established a colony at Port Louis on Berkely Sound; they were however expelled by the Spaniards in
1767 or
1768. In
1761, Commander
Byron took possession on the part of
Britain on the ground of prior discovery, and his doing so was nearly the cause of a war between Britain and
Spain, both countries having armed fleets to contest the barren but strategically important sovereignty (like the
Mascarene Islands but without their intrinsic resources, it was well placed as a base for
pirate and
privateer raids). On
January 22,
1771, however, Spain yielded the islands to
Great Britain by convention. As they had not been actually colonised by Britain, Argentina claimed the group in
1820 and formed a penal settlement at Port Louis which initially promised to be fairly successful until a mutiny turned it into an actual or potential pirate base. Thus Argentina lost that part of its claim from being in actual and effective possession (since the mutineers were). Owing to some misunderstanding or correct understanding of the risk by the Americans the mutinous settlement was destroyed by the latter in
1831. After all these vicissitudes, the British flag was once more hoisted at Port Louis on
January 3,
1833 with the establishment of a naval garrison and civilian settlement there to prevent the strategic location again being compromised. The strategic significance was confirmed by its becoming the location of the
second major naval engagement of the First World War.
Falklands War - Argentina invaded the islands on 2 April, 1982. The British responded with an expeditionary force that landed seven weeks later and after fierce fighting forced Argentine surrender on 14 June, 1982.
Early history added from the ninth edition of an encyclopedia (1879) and other sources
- See also : Falkland Islands