Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
How The Falkland Islands Became British ...
On January 2, 1833 the British frigate HMS "Clio" anchored off the island's capital Port Louis on the Falkland Islands ...:
The ship's commander, Captain James Onslow ...
... let himself rowed ashore ...
... and demands, with the heavy cannons of his ship in the back, the Argentine island crew, which consists of only a few soldiers, to pack up their stuff and to leave the island for Argentina as quickly as possible.
The commander of the Argentines, a coronel by the name of José María Pinedo ...
... corresponds to this "wish" with the threatening cannons of the British ship in mind.
After three days, the last Argentine soldier ...
... has left the islands - most of them were probably happy to be able to get away from the very inhospitable islands with the rough climate - and the British hoist the Union Jack ...:
With this utterly unspectacular epidode, the Falklkands Islands become British property - and they are to this day!
It is true that the islands (a total of more than 200 islands belong to them, some of them only a few square meters in size, only five larger than 10 square kilometers) are not a really nice piece of earth ...
... but they are an extremely important strategic point on the map:
Whoever owns the Falkland Islands controls the shipping routes around the southern tip of the American southern continent!
And that is why there is hardly any other piece of land between several nations as controversial as these islands!
The British substantiate their claim to the archipelago with the fact that it was discovered by a British, namely in 1592 by the navigator John Davis ...:
Utter nonsense! Davis only saw the then completely uninhabited islands from afar, as can be seen from his ship's log. He never set foot in it and never "took possession" of it for England.
The first to do this were French, who built a first settlement there in 1764 and named it "Port Louis" after their king ...:
The founder was no stranger, namely Comte Louis Antoine de Bougainville!
The people he brought with him were tough, weather-beaten Bretons, used to the harsh Atlantic climate. It was they who gave the islands their second name: "Îles Malouines".
This name refers to the sailors and fishermen from the Breton port city of Saint-Malo; that is where the first settlers came from.
Two years later the English came and built a second settlement Port Egmont ...:
But the climate and landscape affected the sons and daughters of Britain so much that after eight years (and many deaths) they gave up and sailed home again.
The French were among themselves again - until 1766 the Spaniards acquired the islands of France at the "green table" of diplomacy. Le Roi Louis XV. was probably damp again and needed money.
So now the islands were owned by Spain - and because "Falkland Islands" is very difficult to pronounce for Spanish tongues, they stuck to the Breton name and called the archipelago "Islas Malvinas".
Incidentally, the Breton settlers were allowed to stay!
But because nothing grows on the malvines or is stored in the ground that can somehow be made into big money (except for geostrategic interests maybe) and the maintenance of the islands cost the Spanish state far more than they brought in, the politicians in Madrid turned the islands over in 1811 close the tap - but without giving up your territorial claims!
Thereupon the still young state of Argentina saw its hour come - and in 1820 took the "Islas Malvinas" into physical possession, so to speak, by taking over the frigate "Heroina" ...
... with a few soldiers under Coronel Pablo Guillén...
... and after a few symbolic shots ...
... a small contingent of soldiers landed there.
Coronel Guillén's written declaration of possession is on display in the museum in Buenos Aires together with his saber and shako to this day ...:
The British have nothing comparable formal - apart from the log book of John Davis, who, however, was never on the islands! The British only have cannons and ships left - and that's what counts in the end ...!
The settlers on the Malvinas were happy - after all, with Argentina they now had a father, or better yet, a payer country again!
Until 1833, when Captain Onslow arrived with his "Clio" ...
**continued next post**
On January 2, 1833 the British frigate HMS "Clio" anchored off the island's capital Port Louis on the Falkland Islands ...:
The ship's commander, Captain James Onslow ...
... let himself rowed ashore ...
... and demands, with the heavy cannons of his ship in the back, the Argentine island crew, which consists of only a few soldiers, to pack up their stuff and to leave the island for Argentina as quickly as possible.
The commander of the Argentines, a coronel by the name of José María Pinedo ...
... corresponds to this "wish" with the threatening cannons of the British ship in mind.
After three days, the last Argentine soldier ...
... has left the islands - most of them were probably happy to be able to get away from the very inhospitable islands with the rough climate - and the British hoist the Union Jack ...:
With this utterly unspectacular epidode, the Falklkands Islands become British property - and they are to this day!
It is true that the islands (a total of more than 200 islands belong to them, some of them only a few square meters in size, only five larger than 10 square kilometers) are not a really nice piece of earth ...
... but they are an extremely important strategic point on the map:
Whoever owns the Falkland Islands controls the shipping routes around the southern tip of the American southern continent!
And that is why there is hardly any other piece of land between several nations as controversial as these islands!
The British substantiate their claim to the archipelago with the fact that it was discovered by a British, namely in 1592 by the navigator John Davis ...:
Utter nonsense! Davis only saw the then completely uninhabited islands from afar, as can be seen from his ship's log. He never set foot in it and never "took possession" of it for England.
The first to do this were French, who built a first settlement there in 1764 and named it "Port Louis" after their king ...:
The founder was no stranger, namely Comte Louis Antoine de Bougainville!
The people he brought with him were tough, weather-beaten Bretons, used to the harsh Atlantic climate. It was they who gave the islands their second name: "Îles Malouines".
This name refers to the sailors and fishermen from the Breton port city of Saint-Malo; that is where the first settlers came from.
Two years later the English came and built a second settlement Port Egmont ...:
But the climate and landscape affected the sons and daughters of Britain so much that after eight years (and many deaths) they gave up and sailed home again.
The French were among themselves again - until 1766 the Spaniards acquired the islands of France at the "green table" of diplomacy. Le Roi Louis XV. was probably damp again and needed money.
So now the islands were owned by Spain - and because "Falkland Islands" is very difficult to pronounce for Spanish tongues, they stuck to the Breton name and called the archipelago "Islas Malvinas".
Incidentally, the Breton settlers were allowed to stay!
But because nothing grows on the malvines or is stored in the ground that can somehow be made into big money (except for geostrategic interests maybe) and the maintenance of the islands cost the Spanish state far more than they brought in, the politicians in Madrid turned the islands over in 1811 close the tap - but without giving up your territorial claims!
Thereupon the still young state of Argentina saw its hour come - and in 1820 took the "Islas Malvinas" into physical possession, so to speak, by taking over the frigate "Heroina" ...
... with a few soldiers under Coronel Pablo Guillén...
... and after a few symbolic shots ...
... a small contingent of soldiers landed there.
Coronel Guillén's written declaration of possession is on display in the museum in Buenos Aires together with his saber and shako to this day ...:
The British have nothing comparable formal - apart from the log book of John Davis, who, however, was never on the islands! The British only have cannons and ships left - and that's what counts in the end ...!
The settlers on the Malvinas were happy - after all, with Argentina they now had a father, or better yet, a payer country again!
Until 1833, when Captain Onslow arrived with his "Clio" ...
**continued next post**
