Coming from the discussion in the thread "Would America attack Iran?". Just now, they islands are British Sovereign territory, but Argentine claims to be the rightful owner.
A bit of history (copied from Wikipedia) :
1504: Amerigo Vespucci (Florence/Spain)
1520: Esteban Gómez (Spain)
1540: Ferdinand Camargo (Spain)
1592: John Davis (England)
1593: Richard Hawkins (England)
1600: Sebald de Weert (Netherlands)
1684: Cowley & Dampier (England) discovered Pepys Island, renamed South Georgia by James Cook in 1775.
1690: John Strong (England) landed, and named the sound and eventually the entire island group after Viscount Falkland, Admiralty Commissioner
1764: Louis de Bougainville (France) founded a naval base at Port Louis, East Falkland. The French named them the Îles Malouines.
1765: John Byron (Great Britain) established a base at Port Egmont, West Falkland in 1765.
1767: France sold its base to Spain.
1770: Spain declared war on Great Britain in a fight over the islands.
1771: That dispute was settled, with Spain retaining East Falkland and Great Britain West Falkland (until 1774).
1774: The British abandoned Port Egmont but left behind a nice shiny plaque saying the islands were under continuing British dominion
1776: Spain ruled the islands as part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata after 1776.
1811: The islands were uninhabited after 1811.
1816: The United Provinces of the River Plate, later called Argentina, gained independence from Spain
1820: Argentina proclaimed sovereignty over the islands. The Argentine frigate, the Heroina, was sent to the islands to take possession of them. Argentina set up a penal colony on them.
1825: The United Kingdom recognized Argentina's independence from Spain.
1829: Argentina named Luis Vernet as the islands' governor. After a dispute over fishing rights with an United States vessel, the Argentine authorities arrested and detained the vessel´s captain. The US responded by shelling the island, destroying the main settlements.
1833: The United Kingdom invaded the islands and expelled the Argentines, but Argentina maintained its claim.
1965: United Nations Resolution 2065 called upon Britain and Argentina to proceed without delay with negotiations with a view to finding a peaceful solution to the problem bearing in mind the interests of the population of the Falkland Islands.
1982: Various tensions, but mainly the desire of the Argentine military junta to distract attention from domestic economic and political ills, led to an Argentine invasion. The islands were later retaken by the UK.
Britain rightfully owns the islands because Argentina claimed that it owned the lands which were under continuing British dominion.
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