You’re labouring under a bunch of misapprehensions, wsoul2k.
Discovery
Prior to 1833 there were competing claims on the islands – which were probably discovered by Magellan (Portugese), Vespucci (Florence), or Piri Reis (Turkish). Davis (English) discovered and named them again in 1592, and Hawkins did the same in 1594, while Strong applied the Falkland name in 1690…..
It’s not a simple matter, and certainly neither Spain nor Argentina can claim to have ‘discovered’ the Falklands.
Settlement
The French founded a settlement at Port Louis in 1764, and the Brits at Port Egmont in 1766. Byron, leader of that expedition, claimed the islands for King George III that year. Spain acquired the French settlement in 1767, and placed the islands under the Buenos Aires colonial administration. The British were expelled in 1770, but returned in 1771. Neither side relinquished sovereignty.
The British withdrew their settlement again in 1776 (being a tad busy elsewhere) but asserted their claims.
The Spanish similarly left in 1820, and similarly asserted their claims.
Note that when the Congress of Tucumán formally announced a formal Declaration of Independence from Spain on 9 July 1816 the Falkland Islands were not handed over by Spain nor were they claimed by the new Argentine state, and indeed sovereignty over the islands were still claimed by both Spain and the UK.
A US privateer did claim the islands for the newly independent United Provinces of the River Plate (Argentina) in 1820, but this claim was just one of the three competing claims, and it had no greater status or justification than the other claims. No Argentinian settlement was founded until 1828, when Argentina founded a penal colony. With no settlement in 1820, the islands were not administered by Argentina. The Americans destroyed the Argentine settlement three years later. Only escaped prisoners and pirates were left behind.
The British returned and settled in earnest in 1833, restoring law and order and reasserting British sovereignty. The British were not resisted and did not take the islands by force, and they were returning to a territory over which they already asserted sovereignty. Their return was not challenged by Argentina.
At best, ownership of the islands before 1833 was disputed, and it is certainly inaccurate to claim that the islands “belonged to Spain” (or Argentina) before that date. Britain has asserted sovereignty continuously since 1767 (243 years!) – before Argentina even existed!
The Falklands have been British since 1833, and only under British sovereignty has there been any significant or meaningful settlement of the islands. And British settlement there has lasted for 177 years continuously, compared to the five years (maximum) that Argentina’s settlement lasted. It can’t even be claimed that Argentina was there first – there had been earlier British settlement from 1766-1770 and from 1771-1776.
If Argentina attempts to assert its sovereignty over the islands, it will be overriding the fundamental rights of the islanders to self determination – and they do not wish their home to be Argentinian soil, nor to submit to Argentinian dominion over them.
Again: Argentina has no legitimate claim to the Falklands.
Again: The overriding principal must be the right of the Islands’ population to self determination.
It seems you are a Imperial leader…. fact is that the British did not discovered those Islands, they took it….
Like Argentina (in you’re opinion)has no legitimate claim to the Malvinas…. nor do the British (in my personal opinion)…
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