FALKLAND ISLANDS

fôkˈlənd, Span. Islas Malvinas, officially Colony of the Falkland Islands, group of islands (1991 pop. 2,121), 4,618 sq mi (11,961 sq km), S Atlantic, c.300 mi (480 km) E of the Strait of Magellan. The islands are administered as a British crown colony with the capital at Stanley. There are two large islands (East Falkland and West Falkland) and some 200 small ones. From 1908 to 1985 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands were dependencies of the colony. The Falklands are rather bleak, rocky moorlands, swept by wind and drenched by chill rain. The population is almost entirely British, Christian, and English-speaking.

The islands are flourishing sheep-raising centers. The economy is dependent on the export of wool and the sale of Falkland Islands postage stamps and coins. Whales and seals abound in the littoral waters and formerly were heavily hunted. There are rich fishing grounds surrounding the islands and the government began selling licenses to foreign commercial fishing operations in 1987. Oil exploration around the islands began in the early 1990s.

The British have long claimed the islands, based on probable discovery by the navigator John Davis in 1592; but they have been claimed and occupied at various times by Spain, France, and Argentina. When the seizure of an American sealing vessel in 1832 led to a U.S. punitive expedition, the British, claiming sovereignty, occupied the islands. Near the Falklands, in one of the most stirring naval engagements of World War I, the British under Sir Frederick Sturdee destroyed (Dec. 8, 1914) a German squadron under Graf von Spee. Argentina invaded the islands in 1982 over a sovereignty dispute with Great Britain, but British forces responded quickly, forcing a surrender by the Argentines within six weeks. Since the invasion Falkland Islanders have repeatedly elected legislators who oppose closer links with Argentina..

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