Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The archipelago, with an area of 4,700 sq mi, comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands. As a British overseas territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, but the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defense and foreign affairs. The capital and largest settlement is Stanley on East Falkland.

When discovered by Europeans in the 16th century the Falkland Islands were uninhabited. It was not until 1764, when France became the first to establish a colony on one of the islands. The French then left their island in 1766 allowing the Spanish to take control while the British established a settlement on another one of the islands in 1765.

In 1770 the Spanish then attacked the British island forcing them to leave. In the following year the British came back and the colony town of Port Egmont became an important port-of-call for British ships in the area. Yet war was brewing in another colony known as the American Revolutionary War. In 1776 the British military forces left the Falklands heading to America to fight in that revolution, however, this time British settlers stayed behind in the islands.

In 1780 the Spanish then arrived back at the islands proclaiming their own sovereignty, destroying the British colony, and forcing the British inhabitants to leave their homes and settlement. The Spanish ruled the islands from Buenos Aires until they left in 1811