Stanley (also known as Port Stanley) is the capital city of the Falkland Islands. It is located on the island of East Falkland, on a north-facing slope in one of the wettest parts of the islands. At the 2016 census, the city had a population of 2,460.[1] The entire population of the Falkland Islands was 3,398 on Census Day - 9 October 2016.
The town hall serves as a post office, philatelic bureau, law court and dance hall. The police station also contains the islands' only prison, with capacity for 13 inmates.
The community centre includes a swimming pool (the only public one in the islands), a sports centre, and school. A grass football pitch is located by the community centre. A separate building houses the college of further education and the library. A new sports centre is under construction to the south of the town centre, next to a newly-laid floodlit all-weather pitch.
Stanley Racecourse, located on the west side of Stanley, holds a two-day horse racing meeting every year on 26 and 27 December. The Christmas races have been held here for over 100 years.
Stanley Golf Course has an 18-hole course and a club house. It is also located to the west of Stanley.
King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is the islands' main hospital, with doctors' practice and surgery, radiology department, dental surgery and emergency facilities.
The original capital of the islands was at Port Louis to the north of the present site of Stanley, on Berkeley Sound. Captains Francis Crozier and James Clark Ross were recruited by Governor Richard Moody in his quest to find a new capital for The Falklands. Both Crozier and Ross (who are remembered in Crozier Place and Ross Road in Stanley) were among the Royal Navy's most distinguished seafarers. They spent five months in the islands with their ships Terror and Erebus, later lost looking for the Northwest Passage. Governor Moody (after whom Moody Brook is named), however, decided to move the capital to Port Jackson, which was renamed "Stanley Harbour", after a survey. Stanley Harbour was considered to have a deeper anchorage for visiting ships. Not all the inhabitants were happy with the change; a JW Whitington is recorded as saying, "Of all the miserable bog holes, I believe that Mr Moody has selected one of the worst for the site of his town."[2]
Work on the settlement began in 1843 and it became the capital in July 1845. It was named after Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies at the time. In 1849, 30 married Chelsea Pensioners were settled there to help with the defence of the islands and to develop the new settlement.
The settlement soon grew as a deep-water port, specialising at first in ship repairs; before the construction of the Panama Canal, Port Stanley was a major repair stop for ships travelling through the Straits of Magellan. The rough waters and intense storms found at the tip of the continent forced many ships to Stanley Harbour, and the ship repair industry helped to drive the island economy. Later it became a base for whaling and sealing in the South Atlantic and Antarctic.
Landslides caused by excessive peat cutting destroyed part of the town in 1879 and again in 1886, which killed two people. At about midnight on 29 November 1878 a black moving mass, several feet high, was moving forwards at a rate of 4 miles per hour (6.4km/h) or 5 miles per hour (8.0km/h). The next morning the town was cut in two; the only way to travel between the two parts was by boat.[3]
Stanley Airport is used by internal flights and provides connections to British bases in Antarctica. Flights to Argentina ended after the 1982 conflict. A weekly flight to Punta Arenas in Chile commenced in 1993, which now operates out of RAF Mount Pleasant. Scheduled passenger flights between the Mount Pleasant airfield and the UK are also operated twice a week by a civilian airline contractor on behalf of the Royal Air Force.
Stanley was occupied by Argentine troops for about 10 weeks during the Falklands War in 1982. The Argentinians renamed the town Puerto Argentino, and although Spanish names for places in the Falklands were historically accepted as alternatives, this one is considered to be extremely offensive by many islanders.[5] Stanley suffered considerable damage during the war, from both the Argentine occupation and the British naval shelling of the town, which killed three civilians. After the British secured the high ground around the town the Argentines surrendered with no fighting in the town itself. The beaches and land around it were heavily mined and some areas remain marked minefields.
Since the Falklands War, Stanley has benefited from the growth of the fishing and tourism industries in the Islands. Stanley itself has developed greatly in that time, with the building of a large amount of residential housing, particularly to the east of the town centre. Stanley is now more than a third bigger than it was in 1982.
A number of variants of the city's name have appeared in both English and Spanish. Stanley Harbour was originally known as "Port Jackson", and this name would have applied to the area before the town was built. Although the town is officially known as "Stanley", it is frequently referred to as "Port Stanley", especially in British reports about the Falklands War. This is in line with various other settlements around the islands, e.g. Port Howard and Port Stephens. However, "Stanley" without the "Port" prefix was established long before the war, and on 2 August 1956, the Officer Administering the Government of the Falkland Islands reported to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London as follows:
There is some difficulty over the correct name of the capital. Early despatches contain reference to both Port Stanley and Stanley. Port Stanley was accepted by the Naming Commission set up in 1943 to consider the names then being included on the War Office maps. Local opinion differs on the matter, but there is no doubt that Stanley is now common usage and has been for some considerable time. The capital is defined as Stanley in the Interpretation and General Law Ordinance. In the circumstances I would advise that the correct name for the capital is Stanley.[9]
A message issued by the Argentine Military Governor during the occupation in which the capital is referred to as "Puerto Argentino (ex-Stanley)".
The situation with the Spanish version of the name is far more complicated. Stanley, unlike Port Louis, the former capital of the islands, was a new settlement founded by the British, and therefore did not have a Spanish name of its own. Many Spanish speakers use "Puerto Stanley", as a neutral translation of the British name but it is disliked by supporters of Argentine sovereignty who refuse to recognise English language names. Supporters of the Argentine claim have used several different names, none of which are accepted by the islanders themselves:
Puerto Soledad (the port of East Falkland, known in Spanish as Isla Soledad) – reported in 1965, but in fact the old Spanish name of Port Louis, the old capital, not Stanley.
Puerto Rivero – a reference to Antonio Rivero, a controversial Argentine figure in the early history of the islands. Used by peronists and the hijackers of Aerolineas Argentinas Flight 648 who landed at Stanley in September 1966. It was also used on 3–4 April 1982 after the Argentine invasion.
Puerto de la Isla Soledad – a variant on Puerto Soledad. Used 5 April 1982.
Puerto de las Islas Malvinas (Port of the Malvinas/Falklands), used from 6–20 April 1982.
Puerto Argentino (Port Argentine) – used ever since 21 April 1982 by the Argentines, although in 1994 the Argentine Government signed an undertaking to review toponymy relating to the Argentine occupation of the islands.
During the 1982 occupation, Patrick Watts of the islands' radio station used circumlocutions to avoid using Argentine names:
"It hurt me greatly to call it [the radio station] Radio Nacional Islas Malvinas, and I used to try to avoid referring to Port Stanley as Puerto Argentino. I called it 'the capital' or the 'largest settlement on the island'"
—Eyewitness Falklands: A personal account of the Falklands campaign
Climate
The climate of Stanley is classified as a subpolar oceanic climate (KöppenCfc), bordering very closely on a polar climate (ET). Nowadays it barely avoids classification as ET because the mean temperature is greater than 10°C (50°F) for two months of the year.[10] Unlike typical tundra climates, however, the winters are very mild, and vegetation grows there that normally could not in a climate this close to a polar climate. Contrast this with Churchill, Manitoba, which also has a near-tundra climate but is much more continental in nature.
The Falkland Islands have displayed a warming trend in recent years; the mean daily January maximum for Mount Pleasant for the years 1999-2012 is 15.1°C (59.2°F) compared to Stanley's 1961-90 average of 14.1°C (57.4°F).[11] Formerly, Stanley had a tundra climate (ET), due to cool summer temperatures (the mean temperature was less than 10°C or 50°F in the hottest month).[12]
Like the rest of the archipelago, Stanley has more or less even temperatures through the year and strong westerlies. Precipitation, averaging 544mm (21.42in) a year, is nonetheless relatively low, and evenly spread throughout the year. Typically, at least 1mm (0.039in) of rain will be recorded on 125.2 days of the year. The islands receive 36.3% of possible sunshine, or around 1500–1600 hours a year, a level similar to southern parts of England. Daytime temperatures are similar to the Northern Isles of Scotland, though nights tend to be somewhat colder, with frost occurring on more than 1 in 3 nights (128.4 nights). Snow occurs in the winter. Light snowfall can occur at any time of year.
Stanley is a similar distance from the equator to British warm-summer climates like London, Cardiff and Bristol, illustrating the relative chilliness of the climate. In the northern hemisphere, lowland tundra areas are located at latitudes further from the tropics. Many European capitals are also located much farther from the tropics than Stanley is. The nearest larger city of Río Gallegos (the provincial capital of Santa Cruz) in Argentina has a slightly milder climate (annual mean temperature being 1.7°C (3.1°F) higher) due to its position on the South American mainland, although summers everywhere on this latitude in the southern hemisphere are very cool due to important marine effects.
Temperature extremes at Stanley vary from −11.1°C (12.0°F) to 26.1°C (79.0°F).[13][bettersourceneeded][self-published source] More recently, on 23 January 1992, nearby Mount Pleasant Airport recorded 29.2°C (84.6°F).[14]
The Stanley Infant & Junior School (IJS) is located along John Street at the intersection with Villiers Street in Stanley. The school first opened in 1955 and has about 250 students between the ages of four and 11.[16]
The Falkland Island Community School (FICS) is located on Reservoir Road in Stanley. It has approximately 220 students between 11 and 16.
'Welcome to Stanley' sign, with Stanley in the background
Gypsy Cove, known for its Magellanic penguins, and Cape Pembroke, the easternmost point of the Falklands, lie nearby. Gypsy Cove is four miles (6km) from Stanley and can be reached by taxi or on foot.
Today, roughly one third of the city’s residents are employed by the government, and tourism is also a major source of employment. On days when two or more large cruise ships dock in the town, tourists frequently outnumber the local residents.
Peat was once a prominent heating/fuel source in Stanley, and stacks of drying peat under cover can still be seen by the occasional house.
George Rennie (1801 or 1802 in Phantassie, East Lothian – 1860 in London), sculptor, politician and governor
Mary Ellaline Terriss, Lady Hicks (1871 in Stanley – 1971 (aged 100) in Hampstead, London), known professionally as Ellaline Terriss, a popular English actress and singer, best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies
Edward Binnie (1884 in Stanley – 1956 in Sandefjord, Norway), the second resident magistrate of South Georgia, serving from October 1914 to April 1927, when he resided at King Edward Point; previously served as customs officer on East Falkland Island
Terry Peck MBE, CPM (1938 – 2006 both in Stanley), soldier, policeman and legislator
Edward Neill "Ted" Baker CNZM (born 1942 in Stanley), a New Zealand scientist specialising in protein purification and crystallization and bioinformatics
Alejandro Betts (1947 – 2020), a Falklands-born Argentine air-traffic controller, notable[20] for being the only Falkland Islander to support Argentina's claim to the Falkland Islands
Mensun Bound (born 1953 in Port Stanley) is a British marine archaeologist, based in Oxford, Triton Senior Research Fellow in Marine Archaeology at Oxford University
James Peck (born 1968 in Stanley), an artist and writer who at one time held both Argentine and British citizenship but has since renounced his Argentine citizenship.[21]
Modern-day politicians
Janet Lynda Cheek (born 1948 in Stanley) is a politician, served as a MLA for the Stanley constituency from 1997 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2017
Mike Summers OBE (born 1952 in Stanley) is a politician, served as a MLA for the Stanley constituency from 2011 to 2017
Sharon Halford (born 1953 in Stanley) is a politician, served as a MLA for the Camp constituency from 1993 to 2001 and from 2009 until 2013
Glenn Ross (born 1964 in Stanley) is an engineer and politician, served as a MLA for the Stanley constituency from 2009 to 2011
Michael Poole (born 1984 in Falkland Islands) is a politician, served as a MLA for the Stanley constituency from 2013 to 2017
Gavin Short (born 1962 in Falkland Islands) was a politician and served as a MLA for the Stanley constituency between 2009 and 2017. He is currently a senior news reporter with FIBS and was re-elected in the 2021 elections.
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 Falkland Islands currently has 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 Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory and, as such, rely on the United Kingdom for the guarantee of their security. The other UK territories in the South Atlantic, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, fall under the protection of British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI), formerly known as British Forces Falkland Islands (BFFI), which includes commitments from the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. They are headed by the Commander, British Forces South Atlantic Islands (CBFSAI), a brigadier-equivalent appointment that rotates among all three services.
RAF Mount Pleasant is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The airfield goes by the motto of "Defend the right" and is part of the British Forces South Atlantic Islands (BFSAI). Home to between 1,000 and 2,000 British military personnel, it is about 33 miles (53 km) southwest of Stanley, the capital of the Falklands, on the island of East Falkland. The world's longest corridor, 2,600 feet (800 m) long, links the barracks, messes, and recreational and welfare areas of the station, and was nicknamed the "Death Star Corridor" by personnel due to its drab and foreboding ambiente, before it was re-designed, re-painted, and re-named "Millennium Corridor".
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.
Weddell Island is one of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, lying off the southwest extremity of West Falkland. It is situated 1,545 km (960 mi) west-northwest of South Georgia Island, 1,165 km (724 mi) north of Livingston Island, 606 km (377 mi) northeast of Cape Horn, 358 km (222 mi) northeast of Isla de los Estados, and 510 km (320 mi) east of the Atlantic entrance to Magellan Strait.
Port Louis is a settlement on northeastern East Falkland. It was established by Louis de Bougainville on 5 April 1764 as the first French settlement on the islands, but was then transferred to Spain in 1767 and renamed Puerto Soledad.
The Camp is the term used in the Falkland Islands to refer to any part of the islands outside the islands' only significant town, Stanley, and often the large RAF base at Mount Pleasant. It is derived from the Spanish word campo, for "countryside".
Mount Longdon is a hill located in the east of East Falkland island forming part of the Falkland Islands Archipelago. It has an elevation of 186 metres above sea level. It is the highest land in any direction for 2 kilometres. Mount Longdon is named after Lt Col Richard Longdon, who was the commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army during the Falklands War. It is best known as the site of the Battle of Mount Longdon, and overlooks Stanley, the capital of the Falkland Islands.
Port Stanley Airport, also merely known as Stanley Airport, is a small civil airport in the Falkland Islands, located two miles from the capital, Stanley. This airport is the only civilian airport in the islands with a paved runway. However, the military airbase at RAF Mount Pleasant, located to the west of Stanley, functions as the islands' main international airport, because it has a long runway capable of handling wide-body aircraft, and allows civilian flights by prior permission from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). Port Stanley Airport is owned by the Government of the Falkland Islands, operated by the Falkland Islands Government Air Service, and is used for internal flights between the islands and flights between the Falklands and Antarctica. It has two asphalt-paved runways; its main runway 09/27 is 918 by 19 metres, and its secondary runway 18/36 is 338 metres long.
Puerto Deseado, originally called Port Desire, is a city of about 15,000 inhabitants and a fishing port in Patagonia in Santa Cruz Province of Argentina, on the estuary of the Deseado River.
Bluff Cove is a sea inlet and settlement on East Falkland, in the Falkland Islands, on its east coast. It was the site of secondary landings of the Falklands War of 1982, which resulted in a successful attack of the Argentine Air Force, which came to be known as the Bluff Cove Disaster.
Puerto Soledad was a Spanish military outpost and penal colony on the Falkland Islands, situated at an inner cove of Berkeley Sound.
The Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about 300 mi (480 km) east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about 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.
Stanley Harbour is a large inlet on the east coast of East Falkland island. A strait called "the Narrows" leads into Port William.
Mare Harbour, known colloquially as East Cove Port, is a small settlement on East Falkland, on Choiseul Sound. It is mostly used as a port facility and depot for RAF Mount Pleasant, as well as a deepwater port used by the Royal Navy ships patrolling the South Atlantic and Antarctica, which means that the main harbour of the islands, Stanley Harbour, tends to deal with commercial transport.
The Falkland Islands have a complex history stretching over five hundred years. Active exploration and colonisation began in the 18th century but a self-supporting colony was not established till the latter part of the 19th century. Nonetheless, the islands have been a matter of controversy, as due to their strategic position in the 18th century their sovereignty was claimed by the French, Spaniards, British and Argentines at various points.
Duplicate: List of Falkland Islands–related topics
References
↑ "2016 Census Report". Policy and Economic Development Unit, Falkland Islands Government. 2017. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
↑ Nicholas Barrett (14 April 2008). "About IJS". Stanley Infant & Junior School. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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