Although
Fuegians from
Patagonia may have visited the Falkland Islands in prehistoric times, the islands were uninhabited when Europeans first explored them. European claims of discovery date back to the 16th century, but no consensus exists on whether early explorers sighted the Falklands or other islands in the South Atlantic. The first undisputed landing on the islands is attributed to English captain John Strong, who, en route to
Peru and
Chile's littoral in 1690, explored the Falkland Sound and noted the islands' water and game. The Falklands remained uninhabited until the 1764 establishment of
Port Louis on
East Falkland by French captain
Louis Antoine de Bougainville and the 1765 foundation of
Port Egmont on
Saunders Island by Captain
John Byron; the latter settlement being expanded by British captain
John MacBride a year later. Whether or not the settlements were aware of each other's existence is debated by historians. In 1766,
France surrendered its claim on the Falklands to
Spain, which renamed the French colony
Puerto Soledad the following year. Problems began when Spain detected and
captured Port Egmont in 1770.
War was narrowly avoided by its restitution to Britain in 1771. drinking
mate at a salting plant in
Valle Esperanza, located in the centre of
East Falkland in the 1850s. The British and Spanish settlements coexisted in the archipelago until 1774, when Britain's new economic and strategic considerations led it to withdraw the garrison from the islands, leaving a plaque claiming the Falklands for King George III. Spain's
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata became the only formal presence in the territory.
West Falkland was left abandoned, and Puerto Soledad became a penal colony. Amid the
British invasions of the Río de la Plata during the
Napoleonic Wars in Europe, the islands' governor evacuated the archipelago in 1806; Spain's remaining colonial garrison followed suit in 1811, except for
gauchos and fishermen who remained voluntarily. Thereafter, the archipelago was visited only by fishing ships; its political status was undisputed until 1820, when Colonel
David Jewett, an American
privateer working for the
United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, informed anchored ships about
Buenos Aires' 1816 claim to Spain's territories in the South Atlantic. Since the islands had no permanent inhabitants, in 1823 Buenos Aires granted German-born merchant
Luis Vernet permission to conduct fishing activities and exploit feral cattle in the archipelago. Vernet settled at the ruins of Puerto Soledad in 1826, and accumulated resources on the islands until the venture was secure enough to bring settlers and form a permanent colony. Buenos Aires named Vernet military and civil commander of the islands in 1829, and he attempted to regulate sealing to stop the activities of foreign whalers and sealers. Vernet's venture lasted until a dispute related to fishing and hunting rights led to
a raid by the
American warship USS Lexington in 1831, when
United States Navy commander
Silas Duncan declared the dissolution of the island's government. , shepherds and sheep in 1849 (painting by Royal Navy Admiral
Edward Fanshawe) Buenos Aires attempted to gain influence over the settlement by installing a garrison in October 1832, which mutinied within a month and was followed the next year by the arrival of British forces, who
reasserted Britain's rule. The
Argentine Confederation (headed by Buenos Aires Governor
Juan Manuel de Rosas) protested against Britain's actions, and Argentine governments have continued since then to register official protests against Britain. The British troops departed after completing their mission, leaving the area without formal government. Vernet's deputy, the Scotsman
Matthew Brisbane, returned to the islands that year to restore the business, but his efforts ended after, amid unrest at Port Louis, gaucho
Antonio Rivero led a group of dissatisfied individuals to murder Brisbane and the settlement's senior leaders; survivors hid in a cave on a nearby island until the British returned and restored order. In the late 1830s, an appeal was made to the Colonial Office in London by businessmen seeing potential profit, for organised settlement of the islands. In 1840, the Falklands became a
Crown colony and Scottish settlers subsequently established an official pastoral community. Four years later, nearly everyone relocated to Port Jackson, considered a better location for the government, and merchant
Samuel Lafone began a venture to encourage British colonisation.
Stanley, as Port Jackson was soon renamed, officially became the seat of government in 1845. Early in its history, Stanley had a negative reputation due to cargo-shipping losses; only in emergencies would ships rounding
Cape Horn stop at the port. Nevertheless, the Falklands' geographic location proved ideal for ship repairs and the "Wrecking Trade", the business of selling and buying shipwrecks and their cargoes. Aside from this trade, commercial interest in the archipelago was minimal due to the low-value hides of the feral cattle roaming the pastures. Economic growth began only after the
Falkland Islands Company, which bought out Lafone's failing enterprise in 1851, successfully introduced
Cheviot sheep for wool farming, spurring other farms to follow suit. The high cost of importing materials, combined with the shortage of labour and consequent high wages, meant the ship repair trade became uncompetitive. After 1870 it declined as the replacement of sail ships by
steamships was accelerated by the low cost of coal in South America; by 1914, with the opening of the
Panama Canal, the trade effectively ended. In 1881, the Falkland Islands became financially independent of Britain. For more than a century, the Falkland Islands Company dominated the trade and employment of the archipelago; in addition, it owned most housing in Stanley, which greatly benefited from the wool trade with the UK. Substantive sovereignty talks again ended by 1981, and the dispute escalated with passing time. In April 1982 the
Falklands War began when Argentine military forces
invaded the Falklands and other
British territories in the South Atlantic, briefly
occupying them until a UK
expeditionary force retook the territories in June. After the war the UK expanded its military presence, building
RAF Mount Pleasant and increasing the size of its garrison. The war also left some 117 minefields containing nearly 20,000 mines of various types, including anti-vehicle and anti-personnel mines. Due to the large number of
deminer casualties, initial attempts to clear the mines ceased in 1983. Demining was completed in October 2020. Based on
Lord Shackleton's recommendations, the Falklands diversified from a sheep-based monoculture into an economy of tourism and, with the establishment of the Falklands
exclusive economic zone, fisheries. The road network was also made more extensive, and the construction of
RAF Mount Pleasant allowed access to
long haul flights.
Oil exploration also began in the 2010s, with indications of possible commercially exploitable deposits in the Falklands basin. Argentina and the UK re-established diplomatic relations in 1990, but neither has agreed on the terms of future sovereignty discussions. ==Government==