History of the Falkland Islands
The history of the Falkland Islands goes back at least five hundred years, with active exploration and colonisation only taking place in the 18th century. Nonetheless, the Falkland Islands have been a matter of controversy, as they have been claimed by the French, British, Spaniards and Argentines at various points.
The extinct Falkland Islands wolf or warrah is sometimes taken as evidence of pre-European discovery.
Richard Hawkins
John Byron, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1759.
Colonel Jewett
Puerto Soledad was a Spanish military outpost and penal colony on the Falkland Islands, situated at an inner cove of Berkeley Sound.
Louis Antoine de Bougainville
The original setting of Port Saint Louis and Puerto Soledad. Dom Pernety, 1769. (Looking eastwards).
King Carlos III of Spain