Why does uk own falklands

There is no party-political activity on the islands. Image source, Getty Images. Read full profile. The wreck of the Lady Elizabeth, built in the s, has been a feature of the islands for a century.

British troops, pictured landing on the Falklands, ejected the Argentine invaders after a day conflict. Related Topics. Falklands War Falkland Islands. Subsequently, British and American ships frequently visited the islands. On 6th October , an Argentine military garrison landed in an attempt to establish Argentine sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, disregarding the British claim of 67 years prior. Less than 3 months later, on 2nd January , the Royal Navy evicted the Argentine military garrison with no loss of life.

The civilian population in the Islands, who had sought permission from Britain to live there, were invited to stay. All but two of them, with their partners, did so. A year later, a small, permanent British administration was established.

With an increasing population, in Stanley was founded, and remains our Capital to this day. We enjoyed a peaceful existence until 1st April , when an Argentine military force invaded our home. For 74 days we lived under foreign occupation, until our liberation by British forces on 14th June Nearly Falkland Islands, British and Argentine lives were lost as a result of this act of aggression.

Since , our lives have been transformed following the establishment of commercial fisheries. Financially self-sufficient and almost entirely self-governing, we determine our own future and way of life.

Our community today has been formed through voluntary immigration and settlement over the course of nearly two hundred years. We are a diverse society, with people from over 60 nations having made the Islands their home. You have to take possession of an empty territory, settle it and govern it continuously to have a hope of claiming ownership. Royal Navy Captain John Strong made the first recorded landing on the then uninhabited islands in , and named them after his patron Lord Falkland.

France founded the first settlement on the archipelago in Spain disapproved of both colonies, regarding the Falklands as Spanish territory following the Treaties of Torsedillas and Utrecht The Spanish bought the colony from the French in , then expelled the British settlers in Britain protested and war was narrowly averted when the Britons were allowed to return. The dispute over who owned the islands was very much alive even then. By Spain and Britain had abandoned the outpost altogether, both leaving plaques asserting their rival claims.

The Falklands were left to the sheep until , when a ship from the United Provinces of the River Plate, the newly independent Spanish colony which would later become Argentina, claimed the islands. But in when Luis Vernet, a naturalised Argentinian of Franco-German ancestry, established a colony, he did so only after seeking the permission of both the United Provinces and the British government, aware that London still claimed the Falklands for the British crown.

Five years later came the notorious incident the Argentinian government still relies on to back up its claim to the Falklands.