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Who discovered the Falkland Islands? Much debated over the last 250 years, there is no real answer. The Spanish will say that it was a Captain in the fleet of Esteban Gomez in 1519, who named them the "Islas de Sanson y de los Patos." The British will dismiss this, as they did in 1770, as nonsense. The truth is unknown, nor ever likely to be. Such sightings were not for ownership, but as warnings to the unwary. Turbulent seas and rocky coasts do not bode well for unwary seamen.
What is known, is that the first recorded landing was by Captain John Strong on January 29th 1690. Commander of the Welfare, Cpt. Strong was in need of fresh supplies and water; "..this morning we weighed and stood unto an harbour on ye west side and there came to ane anchor and sent our boat on shoar for fresh water and did kill abundance of geese and ducks but as far as wood there is none." He named the sound between to the two main islands, Fawklands Channel after the sponsor of the journey, Anthony Cary, 5th Viscount Falkland.
Spanish, French and British interests were all tied up in these southern waters with Spain claiming the greatest part, based on its early discoveries and the 1493 Papal Bull which had divided this part of the world between Portugal and Spain.
The French saw the trading advantages around Cape Horn, but it was the British Admiral George Anson that first recognized the strategic value of islands so close to the Pacific route. Anson tried to sell the idea of a settlement to his Government, but it was the French that got to the islands first.
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville organized a settlement in 1764, but not without attracting the attention of the Spanish Court, always jealous of any encroachments into its sphere of influence. Bougainville landed in February 1764, naming the Islands, 'Les Iles Malouines' , and the port on the eastern isle, 'St. Louis' after his King.
The British had not forgotten Anson however, and its own expedition arrived on the western island in January 1765. It's port was called 'Egmont' and a garden and watering place established. Recognising that a settlement was needed to establish rights of sovereignty, Capt. John Macbride arrived at Port Egmont in January 1766 with a garrison, cattle, sheep and pigs.
Now Spain was aware of two settlements on an archipelago that it considered fell within an area protected by Article 8 of the Treaty of Utrecht 1713, even though the Spanish Court had little idea of where the islands actually were. There was even some doubt whether the British settlement was in the same group of islands as that of the French. Spain was unhappy but recognized that the French were the easiest to deal with as the two Courts were related, and after a little persuasion Bougainville was forced to sign over his settlement to the Spanish. Complaints to the Court of St. James in London were less effective, but there was little the Spanish could do without knowing where exactly the British settlement was located.
Bougainville formally handed over to the French in a simple ceremony as Port Louis in April 1767. The Islands were renamed by the Spanish as the Islas Maluinas, and Port Louis became Puerto Soledad. During 1768, Spain issued orders for its colony in Buenos Aires to seek out the British and expel them.
In November 1769, the British commander at Port Egmont, Capt. Hunt, observed a Spanish schooner and required it to leave the Islands but within two days a message arrived from Puerto Soledad demanding that Hunt be the one to go. Hunt refused. It was in June of 1770 that a Spanish fleet of 5 fighting ships turned up at Egmont, and, after a brief exchange of fire, expelled the British garrison. Heavily outnumbered, it was not much of a battle in the Falklands, but the beginning of a diplomatic conflict between Spain and Britain that would see a British fleet 26 strong lying off Spithead and a serious threat of war. France and Spain were not ready however, and the French King was particularly unwilling to involve his country in a conflagration. The result was an 'accommodation', whereby everything returned to the position that it had been in 1769. The British garrison returned to Port Egmont, their goods were returned, and the issue of sovereignty was avoided. Spain still claimed the islands, as did the British, but neither were really prepared to fight over them.
After all, the British were quite busy enough. The revolting colonies in America required changes to their military dispositions resulting in the withdrawal of the garrison in 1774. Left behind was a flag and a plaque proclaiming British sovereignty.
The Spanish remained on East Falkland, venturing across to the western isle in 1780 to destroy Egmont and remove the plaque, all in support of the American revolutionaries. Subsequent Treaties between Spain and Britain left the question of the south seas unresolved although Britain was almost constantly at war either with France or Spain, or both, between 1794 and 1814.
Spain also quit East Falkland in 1811, again as the result of revolting colonies, and again leaving a plaque proclaiming its sovereignty over East Falkland and Puerto Soledad. Europe as a whole also had its problems with Napoleon, tying up resources and breaking previous Treaties and understandings. Spain's dominions in South America reflected these changing alliances; resulting in conflict between the Provinces, some declaring for the Spanish Government, some for Ferdinand VII.
In 1816 a few of these Provinces came together, for a while at least, as the United Provinces, declared independence from Spain and conducted a fleeting war against it's old master via privateers. One such was Colonel Jewett who commanded the Heroina and who, in 1820, made a claim to the Falklands on behalf of the United Provinces. His authority to do so is obscure, and no Order has ever been discovered, but he made it anyway. When Jewett left, he failed to inform Buenos Aires of what he had done, and left nothing behind. Not even a plaque.
The Falkland Islands remained then uninhabited until 1826. Luis Vernet, a cattle dealer from Buenos Aires, attempted a settlement in 1823, but this failed to gain a toe-hold on the windswept islands. He tried again in 1826 with some limited success. In 1828 Vernet improved his position by gaining tax exemptions from Buenos Aires, and seeking British permission for his settlement, but then, in 1829, he sought to upgrade the status of his meager settlement by arranging for Buenos Aires to gain sovereignty through the imposition of authority.
Britain immediately objected, but it was the Americans who would prove to be Vernet's undoing. In an attempt to show that he was Lord of East Falkland, Vernet seized three American sealers bringing US retribution down in the form of the USS Lexington. The American Commander accused Vernet's settlers of piracy and removed all but a few to the mainland, declaring the islands, terra nullius.
Buenos Aries' next attempt to gain sovereignty, in October 1832 failed, partly due to a mutiny by its garrison, but mainly because of the arrival of two British warships. On January 3rd1833, Commander Onslow ordered the flag of the Federal Pact lowered and returned to the Argentine Commander. The message accompanying the ensign was that the British had found, "a foreign flag in the territory of his Majesty."
And then the British left again! A little surprisingly, Buenos Aires made no further attempt to take the Islands, resting their claim on a diplomatic process that had little hope of success. Spain's Ferdinand VII made no objection although he maintained his claim to all the Spanish dominions in South America until his death in 1833. Spain would not begin to recognize the loss of its colonies until 1836, and in 1863 recognised the British colony on the Falklands by a diplomatic visit, a salute to the Union Flag and the usual exchange of presents.
A British colony didn't really get started until 1841 when the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners recommended the formation of a colony. Lt. Richard Moody became the first British Governor in 1843, establishing Stanley as the Islands' capital. Britain has held the islands, other than for a few months during the 1982 Falklands War, ever since.
The islands were not to prove as strategically important as they had initially been planned for. With the advent of steam power, ships could travel further and faster without the need for so many stops. The poor quality land and poor weather meant that food and victuals would not be forthcoming in any significant quantities from the windswept islands. They did play a brief strategic role in World War One and again in World War Two. In 1914, the Royal Navy would intercept the German Fleet returning towards Europe from the Pacific off the Falkland Islands. Similarly, in the Second World War, a British flotilla would use the islands as a base to hound the German pocket battleship the Graf Spee before it was finally scuttled at Montevideo.
The island economy developed around the rearing of sheep and the fishing industry. The colony both has its own fishing fleet but more importantly sells rights to use the fish stocks around its territorial waters to other nations' fishing fleets. Recently, oil and gas reservers have been discovered within the islands' territorial waters and attempts are being made to extract these reserves.
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