Falkland Islands

I

Introduction

Falkland Islands or Islas Malvinas, island group, British dependency, in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the Strait of Magellan and north-east of the southern tip of South America. The approximately 200 islands are divided into two main groups on the east and west by the narrow Falkland Sound. The Falkland Islands have a total area of about 12,173 sq km (4,700 sq mi). The two largest islands are East Falkland Island, with an area of 6,760 sq km (2,610 sq mi), and West Falkland Island, with an area of 5,413 sq km (2,090 sq mi), including, in both cases, adjacent small islands.

The Falkland Islands (formerly known as the Falkland Islands and Dependencies) constitute a self-governing British dependency. Until 1985, South Georgia (3,755 sq km/1,450 sq mi), an island some 1,290 km (800 mi) south-east of the Falkland Islands, and the South Sandwich Islands (337 sq km/130 sq mi), about 750 km (470 mi) south-east of South Georgia, were governed as dependencies of the Falklands. Under a new constitution, however, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands became a separate British dependency.

II

The Land

Geologically, the Falkland Islands are a part of Patagonia in Argentina, being connected with the mainland by a raised submarine plateau. East Falkland is divided by two deep fiords and is traversed in the north by Wickham Heights, which rise on Mount Usborne to 705 m (2,312 ft) above sea level. The remainder of the terrain is low and rolling, forming either marshlands or grazing pastures. West Falkland is hilly, especially in the east, where the Hornby Mountains (including Mount Adam, 700 m/2,297 ft above sea level) extend parallel to Falkland Sound. The low-lying areas of the Falklands are composed of clay, slate, and soft sandstone, and the hills and ridges are formed of hard sandstone and white quartzite. Some galena, with a high percentage of silver, is found on the islands. Fine white sand, suitable for glassmaking, and fairly large peat deposits are also located here. The temperature varies from an average of 2.8° C (37° F) in the winter to 8.3° C (47° F) in the summer. The humidity is constantly high, with rainfall approximately 250 days of the year, November being the only nearly dry month. The Falklands are to a large extent windswept, and the terrain is almost devoid of trees. Attempts at large-scale tree planting have not met with success. The shores of the main islands are deeply indented, providing numerous sheltered harbours. A lighthouse is maintained at Cape Pembroke, East Falkland, near Stanley (population, 1989 estimate, 1,329), the chief town and main port. An airport is located near Stanley. The population of the islands as a whole (1991) is 2,121.

III

Economy and Government

Sheep raising and wool processing are the principal economic activities on the Falklands. Wool is the leading export by far; some hides and skins also are shipped. Imports are principally foodstuffs, fuels, textiles, machinery, and hardware. A private firm, the Falkland Islands Company, played a major role in the islands' economy in the 1980s.

Under a 1985 constitution, the islands are administered by a British Governor and a legislative council of ten members, eight of whom are elected. The other two members, who have no vote, are the chief executive and the financial secretary; they also serve on the executive council, along with three legislators and the Governor, who presides.

IV

History

John Davis, an English navigator and explorer, may have been the first European to sight the Falklands, in 1592. In 1600 a Dutch navigator, Sebald Van Weert, visited the islands and called them the Sebald Islands, a name that still appears on some Dutch maps. Captain John Strong, an Englishman, navigated the sound between East and West Falkland in 1690 and named it Falkland Sound after Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland. The English name for the islands was then taken from that of the sound. In 1764 French colonists from St-Malo (hence the name Malvinas) established a settlement on East Falkland, and the following year the British settled on West Falkland. In 1770 Spain bought out the French, and in 1774 the British left the islands. In 1816 Argentina overthrew Spanish rule and in 1820 claimed sovereignty of the islands. But in 1833 Great Britain took control of the islands. Argentina continued to claim the islands, however.

Negotiations to settle the sovereignty dispute began in the mid-1960s at the United Nations. The talks were still in progress in April 1982, when Argentine forces invaded and occupied the islands for about ten weeks in an attempt to settle the issue by force. They were defeated by a British task force and formally surrendered on June 14. Argentina continued to claim the islands; the British government refused to participate in further negotiations, but the two nations resumed diplomatic relations in 1990.