Chronography of the Falklands Islands
Page last modified 18 August
2023
Demography
of the Falkland Islands
See also Argentina
See also South & Central America
2013,
In a referendum, the Falkland islands voted to remain British
15 February 1990, The UK and Argentina
restored diplomatic links, 8 years after they were broken off in response to
the Falklands War.
31 October 1988, General Galtieri of Argentina was sentenced to
12 years imprisonment because of his incompetent management of the Falklands War.
1986, On the recommendation of
Lord Shackleton, the Falkland Islands set up a 200-mile nautical fishing zone,
which was used to sell fishing licences and prevent over-fishing. This provided
a considerable income stream for The Falklands, with a new school being set up,
and the islands population began to grow. Fishging now accounts for around 60%
of the Falklands GDP.
16 May 1986, Ex-President Galtieri of Argentina was jailed for negligence during the
Falklands War.
8 July 1985, The UK lifted its ban on trading with
Argentina
12
May 1985, Prince Andrew opened the new Falkland
Islands Airport, which
had cost the UK �276 million.
27
June 1983,
Britain announced plans to build a new airport in the Falkland Islands, costing
�215 millon.
13
September 1982,
A report by Lord
Shackleton on proposals for the economic development of the Falkland
Islands recommended investment of �100 million.
Final end
of Falklands hostilities
22 July 1982, Britain lifted the 200-mile exclusion zone around the Falkland Islands.
12 July 1982, Hostilities between Britain and Argentina, over the Falklands,
officially ceased.
18 June 1982, Fourteen Argentinean Army Generals at an army base decided unanimously
to depose General Galtieri, who had taken on the UK to claim the Falklands
Islands. By declaring an end to all hostilities, the 10,600 Argentinean PoWs
still held on the Falklands could be repatriated.
End of
Falklands War 1982
14 June 1982, Argentinean forces formally surrendered to British forces on the
Falkland Islands.�
8 June 1982, British
troops landed near Port Stanley, Falkland Islands.
1 June 1982. British
forces continued their advance in the Falkland Islands, (see 2 April 1982),
fighting with the Argentineans 12 miles from Port Stanley. The Argentinian
forces surrendered on 14 June 1982, the day Port Stanley was recaptured. Total
casualties were 254 British and 750 Argentine lives.
29 May 1982. Battle
of Goose Green in the Falkland Islands. British paratroopers defeated a larger
Argentine force in the first land battle of the war.
28 May 1982, British
troops reached Darwin in the Falklands Islands.
25 May 1982, HMS
Coventry and the merchant ship Atlantic Conveyor were sunk in the
Falkland War, with the loss of 32 lives. The loss of Atlantic Conveyor was a disaster that could soon have meant the end
of the British attempt to regain the Falklands.
21 May 1982. Argentine
rockets sunk the British cruiser Ardent; 22 men died. On 24 May 1982
another British cruiser, the Antelope, was sunk, with 8 men lost.� On 25 May 1982 Argentine Exocet missiles
destroyed HMS Coventry, a destroyer, and the Cunard container ship Atlantic
Conveyor; 32 people were killed. This day 5,000 UK troops landed at San
Carlos Bay on the Falkland Islands and raised the Union Jack.
14 May 1982, British forces landed on East Falkland
island, to oust the Argentinean forces.
12 May 1982, The
QE2 sailed south to join the Falkland Islands Task Force.
4 May 1982. An
Argentinean Exocet missile sank the British ship HMS Sheffield. 20 men
were killed.
2 May 1982. The
Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was torpedoed and sunk by British
nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror, off the Falkland Islands. 800 of the 1,042
crew survived. The General Belgrano, originally called The Phoenix, had been sold to Argentina
by the USA after World War Two, and was the last surviving warship from Pearl
Harbour.
1 May 1982, British
naval forces, the HMS Hermes under
commander Sandy Woodward, entered the Argentine exclusion zone around d the
Falklands, and the Falklands War began. Stanley Airport was bombed by UK forces.
See
also Great Britain
30 April 1982, The US Government, after
some discussion, expressed support for Britain in the Falklands war.
25 April 1982. Britain recaptured South Georgia from Argentina.
12 April 1982, 12,000 Argentinean troops were stationed in the Falklands.
6 April 1982, Britain banned the import of Argentinean products.
5 April 1982, The British
Foreign Secretary, Lord
Carrington, resigned, as a British
invasion fleet left Portsmouth for the Falklands. On 18 March 1982 an
Argentine scrap-metal dealer had raised the Argentine flag on South Georgia, a
sign of intention from Argentina that was not interpreted correctly by the
British Foreign Office. See 1 May 1982.
4 April 1982, The British Falkland Islands Garrison surrendered to Argentina.
3 April 1982. The UN Security Council voted in favour of a resolution that Argentina
withdraw from the Falklands.
2 April 1982. Argentina launched an invasion of the Falkland Islands. On 4 April 1982
Argentina seized South Georgia, a Falklands dependency. British forces set out
from the UK on 5 April 1982 and landed in the Falklands on 21 May 1982. South
Georgia was recaptured on 25 April 1982 with no casualties. See 1 June 1982.
Start of
Falklands War 1982
19 March 1982, Argentine scrap metal merchants landed on uninhabited South Georgia and
raised the Argentine flag, starting the Falklands War.
4 April 1980, Argentina increased its links with the
Falkland Islands; a preliminary to the invasion of 1982.
16 December 1978. Ministers from Britain and Argentina
met to discuss the Falkland Islands, to which Argentina had reiterated its
claim.
Moves
towards Falklands War 1982
27
March 1968.
The UK foreign secretary said the Falklands
will stay British.
29 September 1966. Argentina raided the Falkland Islands.
6 May 1955, Britain
went to the International Court over the Falklands.
16
February 1948,
Britain warned off Argentina as the Argentines conducted
naval exercise near the Falkland
Islands.
8 December 1914. Battle
of the Falklands.� Six of the seven
ships in the German
Pacific Squadron were sunk.� Admiral
Sturdee�s victory over Vice-Admiral von Spee ended German naval activity in the
southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans, allowing the British navy to concentrate
on home waters and the Mediterranean for the remainder of World War One.
1904, Stanley naval station
closed.
1867, There were no settlers on
West Falkland; the Falkland Islands Government offered generous terms to newcomers
and the available grazing was all taken up by 1868.
22 January 1842, Lieutenant Governor Moody became the first
Governor of the Falkland Islands.
See 1767.
1 January 1833, Britain officially annexed the Falkland
Islands as a Crown Colony. It sent a gunboat to reinforce its claims against
Argentina, which had claimed the islands since it became indeoendent from Spain
in 1820.
With
no Panama Canal as yet in exisatence, and no Northwest Passage, the Falkland
Islands then had strategic importance as a staging post for European ships
entering or leaving the Pacific Ocean to the west.
1832, Argentina landed forces on
the Falklands; within weeks they were ousted by a British force.
1780, Spain again claimed the
Falklands., biut also evacuated in 1811, also leaving a plaque claiming
ownership.
22 January 1771,
1774, The British decided that
the garrison on the Falklands was an unwarranted expense and evacuated, but
left a plaque claiming British ownership of the islands.
22 January 1771, Spain ceded the Falkland Islands to
Britain, to avert a possible war.
4 June 1770, Five Spanish frigates under Juan de Madariaga with 1,400
Spanish soldiers entered the port of the small British settlement at Port
Egmont and overwhelmed the tiny British garrison there. The British fired their
guns once for the sake of military honour then surrendered. When the news
reached Britain there was outrage. However by this time King Louis XV of France had
dismissed his war-loving Chief Minister, Cesar Gabriel de Choiseul, and was less
inclined to support hostilities with Britain. Louis XV informed his cousin Charles III of
Spain that he would not support the Spanish adventure in the
Falklands, and the Spanish Navy was easily outclassed by the British.
1767, Spain demanded that France
transfer her Falklands colony to Spain, because it was so close to
the Spanish colony of Argentina. However unknown to either the \French of the
Spanish, in 1765, the English had started a settlement at Saunders Island, West
Falklands. After discussions between Spain and Britain, the Falklands
returned to British control, see 4 June 1770, 22 January 1842.
1764, The first permanent settlement on the Falklands
was made, by 28 Frenchmen, led by Antoine Loius de Bougainville, at
Port Louis, east Falkland. See 1692 and 1767.
1692, The first landing was made on the Falkland Islands, by the
British, from the ship Welfare,
commanded by Captain
John Strong. The Falklands may have been sighted in 1592 by the
Englishman John Davies, aboard the ship Desire,
but no landing was made then. However even then, no permanent settlement was
made, see 1764.
1592, Dutchman Sebald de Wert landed on the Falkland Islands;
Some Dutch
maps
of the 1800s marked them as the Sebald Islands.