The Falkland Islands Development Corporation (FIDC) is a quasi-autonomous, government-established, largely self-funding body responsible for encouraging the economic development of the Falkland Islands. It was set up in 1984 and is mainly funded from its own reserves and income streams. Initiatives it has fostered include air transport, connection to the global containerised shipping network, supporting agricultural diversification, establishing a meat export industry and promoting tourism. It also offers advice, loans and grants to further local business development. [1]
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 economy of the Falkland Islands, which first involved sealing, whaling and provisioning ships, became heavily dependent on sheep farming from the 1870s to 1980. It then diversified and now has income from tourism, commercial fishing, and servicing the fishing industry as well as agriculture. The Falkland Islands use the Falkland pound, which is backed by the British pound.
The Falkland Islands currently have three primary means of transport - road, sea and air. However, in 1946, when Sir Miles Clifford arrived as governor, there were no air services, no roads outside Stanley and an indifferent sea service. Sir Miles was instrumental in starting the Falkland Islands Government Air Service in December 1948. The inaugural flight involved a mercy flight from North Arm Settlement to Stanley to bring a girl with peritonitis to life-saving medical help in Stanley. There is now an international airport, a domestic airport, a number of airstrips, a growing road network and a much-improved ferry service between the two main islands.
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternately referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming part of the United Kingdom itself, are part of its sovereign territory. The permanently inhabited territories are delegated varying degrees of internal self-governance, with the United Kingdom retaining responsibility for defence, foreign relations, and internal security, and ultimate responsibility for governance. Three of the territories are chiefly or only inhabited by military or scientific personnel, the rest hosting significant civilian populations. All fourteen have the British monarch as head of state. These UK government responsibilities are assigned to various departments of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and are subject to change.
East Falkland is the largest island of the Falklands in the South Atlantic, having an area of 6,605 km2 or 54% of the total area of the Falklands. The island consists of two main land masses, of which the more southerly is known as Lafonia; it is joined by a narrow isthmus where the settlement of Goose Green is located, and it was the scene of the Battle of Goose Green during the Falklands War.
Goose Green, also known simply as Goose, is a hamlet in Lafonia on East Falkland in the Falkland Islands. It lies on Choiseul Sound, on the east side of the island's central isthmus, 2 miles (3.2 km) south-southwest of Darwin. With a population of about 40, it is the third-largest settlement of the Falkland Islands, after Stanley and Mount Pleasant.
The culture of the Falkland Islands is essentially analogous to that of British culture. The Falkland Islands have a large non-native-born population, mainly white and from England, but also from Saint Helena.
Sovereignty over the Falkland Islands is disputed by Argentina and the United Kingdom. The British claim to sovereignty dates from 1690, when they made the first recorded landing on the islands, and the United Kingdom has exercised de facto sovereignty over the archipelago almost continuously since 1833. Argentina has long disputed this claim, having been in control of the islands for a few years prior to 1833. The dispute escalated in 1982, when Argentina invaded the islands, precipitating the Falklands War.
The Falkland Islands, commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 300 mi (500 km) east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and 752 mi (1,210 km) from Cape Dubouzet at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at a latitude of about 52°S. The archipelago, with an area of 4,700 sq mi (12,000 km2), comprises East Falkland, West Falkland, and 776 smaller islands. As a British Overseas Territory, the Falklands have internal self-governance, but the United Kingdom takes responsibility for their defence and foreign affairs. The capital and largest settlement is Stanley on East Falkland.
Ajax Bay is a settlement on East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands. It is on the north west coast, on the shore of San Carlos Water, a few miles from Port San Carlos. It was mainly a refrigeration plant, and was developed by the Colonial Development Corporation in the 1950s, which was also responsible for developing Port Albemarle. It was supposed to freeze Falkland mutton, but this was found to be economically unviable. Many of the pre-fabricated houses were moved to Stanley.
Falkland Islanders, also called Falklanders and nicknamed Kelpers, are the people of the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands.
Crown corporations are government organizations in Canada with a mixture of commercial and public-policy objectives. They are directly and wholly owned by the Crown.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Falkland Islands:
Foreign relations between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have existed for over two centuries.
Education in the Falkland Islands starts with childcare for babies, all the way to lifelong learning for adults. It broadly follows the English education system.
The Falkland Islands Constitution is a predominantly codified constitution documented primarily within the Falkland Islands Constitution Order 2008, a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom. The constitution, in its present form, was made on 5 November 2008 by Queen Elizabeth II in a meeting of the Privy Council at Buckingham Palace. It was laid before Parliament on 12 November 2008 and came into force on 1 January 2009, replacing the 1985 constitution.
William Robert Luxton was a Falkland Islander farmer and politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency from the 2009 general election until his resignation in 2011. Luxton was also a Member of the Legislative Council from 1989 to 2001, and served on the Executive Council of the Falkland Islands in the 1980s.
Michael Victor Summers is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency from 2011 to 2017. He was previously a Member of the Legislative Council from 1996–2009.
Michael Poole is a British, Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency from 2013 to 2017. Poole was the first member of the Legislative Assembly to have been born after the Falklands War.