Text 11096, 62 rader
Skriven 2010-10-04 08:44:58 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
Ärende: Falklands
=================
The recent discussion of these islands caused me to dig up a book on the
subject
by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, "The Battle For The Falklands."

The islands were first noticed/discovered around 1540 and were uninhabited.
The first person known to actually set foot on the islands was a Brit, in 1690.

In 1733 the Treaty of Utrecht recognized Spanish hegemony over South America.
The Falklands are a bit more than 200 miles off the coast, and were coveted by
both the British and the French.

The first settlement was French, established in 1764 on East Falkland by de
Bougainville, who claimed the ialands for France (conveniently ignoring the
earlier
British claim).  The British established a settlement on West Falkland in 1765
but did not occupy it until 1766.  The British then suggested that the French
leave, but the French told them that they were there first and if anybody was
leaving it was the British.

In 1767 the French, then an ally of Spain, ceded the colony to Spain.  Spain
then sent a governor to the islands.  In 1769 the Spanish forcibly evicted the
British from their colony and sent them packing back to Britain.

The British re-occupied their settlement under terms of a treaty in about 1790,
but after three years abandoned it again, leaving a plaque that stated that all
the facilities of the settlement belonged to the British crown.

The Spanish settlers of the Falklands were removed by the Spanish government
in 1810, and at the same time settlers in Patagonia were also removed.

In 1820, "The United Provinces of Rio de la Plata" was granted its independence
from Spain.  The new country sent a ship to the Falklands to claim them, and
found
the islands occupied by temporary residents of long-range fishermen, who
basically
suggested that the supposed new owners just go away.

The Buenos Aires government appointed a governor for the islands in 1823, and 
had a functioning colony there by 1829.  The British protested, noting their
prior
claim to the islands, but took no further action.

The Falklands governor then arrested an American ship that was using the
islands
as a base, confiscated part of its cargo of seal skins and sailed the ship to
Buenos
Aires.  The US consul in Buenos Aires sent the USS Lexington, which happened to
be visiting, to the Falklands to recover the stolen cargo.  The Lexington did
that, 
but also destroyed the Spanish defenses at Port Soledad, arrested most of the
inhabitants, declared the islands 'free from all government,' and sailed away.

The Buenos Aires government sent a new governor to the islands, but he was
promptly murdered by the people there - it seems many if not most of the
'colonists' were convicts (shades of Australia).  

In January, 1833, the British reoccupied the islands by force, and has held
them
ever since.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)