Around 30% of the population are temporary residents, on short-term work visas or working at the RAF Mount Pleasant military base. The territory’s sovereignty status is part of an ongoing dispute between Argentina and the UK. Britain reasserted its rule in 1833, but Argentina maintains its claim to the islands. Over 900 Argentinian and British service personnel are killed, as well as three islanders, during the 10-week war.
In the first half of the 20th century, the Falklands served an important role in Britain’s territorial claims to subantarctic islands and a section of Antarctica. Buenos Aires named Vernet military and civil commander of the islands in 1829, and he attempted to regulate sealing to stop the activities of foreign whalers and sealers. The port, located in the Brittany region of western France, was named after St. Malo (or Maclou), the Christian evangelist who founded the city. Bougainville, who founded the islands’ first settlement, named the area after the port of Saint-Malo (the point of departure for his ships and colonists). The name Falkland Islands comes from Falkland Sound, the strait that separates the two main islands.
In 1965, at the 20th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Fourth Committee determined that, in all languages other than Spanish, all UN documentation would designate the territory as Falkland Islands (Malvinas). The common Spanish name for the archipelago, Islas Malvinas, derives from the French Îles Malouines—the name given to the islands by French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1764. The name Falklands was not applied to the islands until 1765, when British captain John Byron of the Royal Navy claimed them for King George III as “Falkland’s Islands”. The name Falkland was applied to the channel by John Strong, captain of an English expedition that landed on the islands in 1690. Oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina. The islands lie at the boundary of the subantarctic oceanic and tundra climate zones, and both major islands have mountain ranges reaching 2,300 ft (700 m).
Falkland Inseln – Südgeorgien – Elephant Island – Antarktis – Polarkreis
Substantive sovereignty talks again ended by 1981, and the dispute escalated with passing time. Nonetheless, Falklander dissent, as expressed by their strong lobby in the UK Parliament, and tensions between the UK and Argentina effectively limited sovereignty negotiations until 1977. An agreement on trade ties between the archipelago and the mainland was reached in 1971 and, consequently, Argentina built a temporary airfield at Stanley in 1972.
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The main settlements are linked by roads and a government-operated air service, which also provides interisland passenger service. Such efforts have enabled the islands’ economy to enjoy sustained growth since the late 20th century. In 2002 a slaughter facility was built, and the following year sheep and lamb meat began being exported to the United Kingdom.
- Though asserting “We will not relinquish our sovereignty” over the islands, Milei said they would not “seek conflict with the United Kingdom” over them, preferring to resolve the dispute “within the framework of peace.”
- The archipelago consists of two main islands, West Falkland and East Falkland, and 776 smaller islands.
- The port settlement of Stanley has regained the islands’ economic focus, with an increase in population as workers migrate from Camp.
- The Falkland Islands government pays for older students to attend institutions of higher education, usually in the United Kingdom.
- Both the chief executive and the director of finance are appointed by the governor.
- The UK bases its position on its continuous administration of the islands since 1833 and the islanders’ “right to self-determination as set out in the UN Charter”.
The government began selling fishing licenses to foreigners in 1987, and the revenue generated from such sales became a major contributor to the economy. Attempts were also undertaken at that time to diversify the islands’ economy. The Falkland Islands Company, incorporated in 1852 and granted a Royal Charter in 1851, played a notable part in the economic development of the islands and was for many years the single largest sheep rancher there.
- In recent years, the islands’ population decline has reduced, thanks to immigrants from the United Kingdom, Saint Helena, and Chile.
- The Falklands are treeless and have a wind-resistant vegetation predominantly composed of a variety of dwarf shrubs.
- After the war ended, the Falklands economy was affected by declining wool prices and the political uncertainty resulting from the revived sovereignty dispute between the United Kingdom and Argentina.
- Falkland Islands, internally self-governing overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The population (3,662 inhabitants in 2021) consists of around 40% native-born Falkland Islanders, with the rest of the population being immigrants, primarily from the United Kingdom, the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, Chile, and the Philippines. At various times, the islands have had French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements. The islands are believed to have been uninhabited prior to European discovery in the 17th century. The archipelago, with an area of 4,700 sq mi (12,000 km2), comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands.
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The UK sends a naval taskforce and some 9,000 troops to recapture the islands. US warship destroys Argentine settlement in reprisal for the arrest of three US vessels hunting seals. Independent Argentina proclaims sovereignty over the Falklands. The wreck of the Lady Elizabeth, built in the 1800s, has been a feature of the islands for a century Coverage of local affairs is provided by a radio station and by the territory’s sole newspaper, Penguin News.
In 2009, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, had a meeting with the Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and said that there would be no further talks over the sovereignty of the Falklands. The UK bases its position on its continuous administration of the islands since 1833 and the islanders’ “right to self-determination as set out in the UN Charter”. As a territory of the United Kingdom, the Falklands were part of the overseas countries and territories of the European Union until 2020. All politicians in the Falkland Islands are independent; no political parties exist on the islands.
The islands are located in the South Atlantic Ocean, on the Patagonian Shelf, about 300 mi (480 km) east of Patagonia in southern Argentina. A British military garrison is stationed on the islands, and the Falkland Islands government funds an additional platoon to company-sized light infantry Falkland Islands Defence Force. The governor acts on the advice of the islands’ Executive Council, composed of the chief executive, the Director of Finance and three elected members of the Legislative Assembly (with the governor as chairman). The Monarch of the United Kingdom is the head of state, and executive authority is exercised on the monarch’s behalf by the governor, who appoints the islands’ chief executive on the advice of members of the Legislative Assembly.
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Executive Council papers, forward plans and public minutes. The islands have one weekly newspaper, The Penguin News, and television and radio broadcasts generally feature programming from the United Kingdom. The Falkland Islands government pays for older students to attend institutions of higher education, usually in the United Kingdom. The main Christian denominations are Anglicanism and other Protestantism, and Roman Catholicism. The remaining 2 per cent identified as adherents of other religions, including the Baháʼí Faith, Buddhism, and Islam. The Falkland-born population are also descended from English and French people, Gibraltarians, Scandinavians, and South Americans.
Tourists, mostly cruise ship passengers, are attracted by the archipelago’s wildlife and environment, as well as activities such as fishing and wreck diving; the majority find accommodation in Stanley. A little over a quarter of the workforce serves the Falkland Islands government, making it the archipelago’s largest employer. By 2023, oil exploration was still proceeding off the shelf of the islands with a deepwater project led by Rockhopper Exploration. Fear of dependence on fishing licences and threats from overfishing, illegal fishing and fish market price fluctuations led to increased interest in oil drilling as an alternative source of revenue.
Since the end of the Falklands War in 1982, the islands’ economic activity increasingly focused on oil field exploration and tourism. Economic development was advanced by ship resupplying and sheep farming for high-quality wool. Based on 2010 data, the islands have a high Human Development Index of 0.874 and a moderate Gini coefficient for income inequality of 34.17. Introduced species include reindeer, hares, rabbits, Patagonian foxes, brown rats, and cats. The Falklands are treeless and have a wind-resistant vegetation predominantly composed of a variety of dwarf shrubs.
Under the 2009 Constitution, the islands have full internal self-government; the UK is responsible for foreign affairs, retaining the power “to protect UK interests and to ensure the overall good governance of the territory”. Concerned at the expense of maintaining the Falkland Islands in an era of budget cuts, the UK again considered transferring sovereignty to Argentina in the early Thatcher government. Vernet’s venture lasted until a dispute related to fishing and hunting rights led to a raid by the American warship USS Lexington in 1831,F when United States Navy commander Silas Duncan declared the dissolution of the island’s government. Amid the British invasions of the Río de la Plata during the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the islands’ governor evacuated the archipelago in 1806; Spain’s remaining colonial garrison followed suit in 1811, except for gauchos and fishermen who remained voluntarily. Major economic activities include fishing, tourism, and sheep farming, with an emphasis on high-quality wool exports. In a 2013 sovereignty referendum, almost all of the votes cast were in favour of remaining a UK overseas territory.
Visit the Falkland Islands!
It is home to the Falkland Islands Museum and National Trust, a museum devoted to the islands’ history. The islands’ social welfare system is adequate, and primary education is free. Both the chief executive and the director of finance are appointed by the governor. A coastal freighter travels around the two main islands to deliver supplies and collect the wool clip for transshipment to the United Kingdom.
Welcome to the Falkland Islands Government
The islands’ cool and windy climate offers few temperature extremes and only minor seasonal variability. The two main islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, and about 200 smaller islands form a total land area nearly as extensive as the U.S. state of Connecticut. (2012, excluding British military personnel stationed on the islands) 2,563. In South America the islands are generally known as Islas Malvinas, because early French settlers had named them Malouines, or Malovines, in 1764, after their home port of Saint-Malo, France.
The Legislative Assembly, a unicameral legislature, consists of the chief executive, the director of finance and eight members (five from Stanley and three from Camp) elected to four-year terms by universal suffrage. Dr Clausen is the first woman and the first Falkland Islander to become Chief Executive of the Government.The UK minister responsible for the Falkland Islands since 2024, Stephen Doughty, administers British foreign policy regarding the islands. Argentina and the UK re-established diplomatic relations in 1990, but neither has agreed on the terms of future sovereignty discussions. Landmine clearance work restarted in 2009, in accordance with the UK’s obligations under the Ottawa Treaty, and Sapper Hill Corral was cleared of mines in 2012, allowing access to an important historical landmark for the first time in 30 years. The war also left some 117 minefields containing nearly 20,000 mines of various types, including anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines. In April 1982 the Falklands War began when Argentine military forces invaded the Falklands and other British territories in the South Atlantic, briefly occupying them until a UK expeditionary force retook the territories in June.
Falkland Islands
There is no party-political activity on the islands. 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. Argentine forces, who had landed on the Falklands to stake a territorial claim, were ejected by a British military task force. Each section of the website is crafted to enrich your understanding of the islands, offering both practical tips and engaging narratives. The governor presides over the Executive Council and must consult with it in the discharge of most of his or her duties but may, in certain circumstances, act against the chicken road games advice of the council.