FALKLANDS SHORT HISTORY OF A LONG DISAGREEMENT PART 1: 1485 – 1833

For hundreds of years these South Atlantic islands have been the focus, and sideshow, of trade missions, treaties and conflicts. In this two-part series, former British Army intelligence officer and now historian Nick Van Der Bijl looks at the five centuries preceding the 1982 war

The history of the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas, long predates the era of exploration, colonialism and territorial expansion that has since defined them. However, when it comes to understanding the terrible war between Argentina and Britain that ravaged this beautiful but isolated archipelago in 1982, we must go back to the dawn of the colonial era. It’s a long, complex and disputed story stretching over at least four centuries.

Land sighted: the colonials arrive

Unquestionably, the Falklands’ history is connected with the history of Argentina, which can be divided into four main phases: the pre-Columbian period (up to the 16th century), the colonial period (1530 – 1810), the nation-building period (1810-80) and modern Argentina (from around 1880 onwards).

In 1494 the Treaty of Tordesillas saw Spain and Portugal divide newly discovered lands outside Europe along a north-south meridian 370 leagues west of Cape Verde in the Atlantic. The arrival of the Spanish navigator Juan Diaz de Solis in the River Plate estuary in 1516 marked the beginning of Spanish colonialism in South America.

After failing to pass through the Straits of Magellan from the east, John Davis, one of Queen Elizabeth I’s chief navigators, sighted the islands in August 1592. Sir Richard Hawkins, who had commanded a ship during the 1588 Armada campaign, sighted land in February 1594 and named it Hawkins’ Maidenland – the sighting was probably the Falkland Islands.