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21 unusual facts about Falkland Islands


847 Naval Air Squadron

The squadron's Wessexes, together with those of 845 NAS initially operated from San Carlos and provided much needed transport support to the advance of British forces on Port Stanley, with forward operating bases being set up at Teal Inlet and Fitzroy.

Alien Hunter

Present day and the same signal is received from the South Pole and then retransmitted from the Falkland Islands to the United States.

Bill Luxton

Luxton was born in the Falkland Islands and educated in the United Kingdom before moving back to the islands to manage his family's farm at Chartres.

Bravo November

While the co-pilot door was missing, the crew of Bravo November were unable to navigate or communicate with other forces, Bravo November returned to San Carlos for damage inspection.

Cape Bougainville

The name, (like Port Louis) comes from the French navigator Louis de Bougainville who established the first settlement in the archipelago in the 1760s.

Cyril Golding-Bird

After time as vicar of St Barnabas', Dover, he began a long period of service overseas: first as Dean of the Falkland Islands; then a similar post in Newcastle, New South Wales following which he was ordained to the episcopate as Bishop of Kalgoorlie.

Egg Harbour

The main objections were to the bottle neck at the Darwin/Goose Green isthmus, which was heavily guarded by Argentine troops, and would have prevented an effective assault on Stanley.

Falkland Sound

The Spanish name "Estrecho de San Carlos" refers to the ship San Carlos which visited in 1768; confusingly the English name "San Carlos Water" is a much smaller inlet on East Falkland - and gives its name to San Carlos, Port San Carlos and the San Carlos River.

Fort Rosalie-class replenishment ship

Both ships saw service in the Falklands War, the then Fort Grange being shadowed by Argentine Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft while still 1,000 nm from the combat area and Fort Austin being attacked while sitting in San Carlos Water.

Fuckland

The picture was recorded illegally in the Falkland Islands in 1999, and was made without the permission of the local government.

Iain Mackay-Dick

He took part in the Falklands War leading the landing of 600 Scots Guards and others at Fitzroy on East Falkland.

Linda Kitson

She drew continuously, recording training and preparation; the transfer at South Georgia to SS Canberra, the landings at San Carlos Bay, the deployment of the forces to Goose Green, Fitzroy, Darwin, and Port Stanley.

Loaded march

After landing with 40 Commando at San Carlos, Holdgate accompanied British forces across the Falklands War zone taking hundreds of photographs.

Louis Isidore Duperrey

On the return to France in March 1825, Lesson and Dumont brought back to France an imposing collection of animals and plants collected on the Falkland Islands, on the coasts of Chile and Peru, in the archipelagos of the Pacific and New Zealand, New Guinea and Australia.

Malo River

Its name is derived from the Breton port of St Malo (also the root of "Malvinas" - "Malouines), due to the French settlement established at Port Louis in 1764.

Malvinas Argentinas Partido

For the islands in the South Atlantic, known in Spanish as 'las islas Malvinas' and claimed by Argentina, see Falkland Islands.

Origins of Falkland Islanders

Scots were particularly common in Darwin, many of them coming from the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which have a similar climate to these areas.

Paddy Mayne

After a period with the British Antarctic Survey in the Falkland Islands, cut short by a crippling back complaint that had begun during his army days, Mayne returned to Newtownards to work first as a solicitor and then as Secretary to the Law Society of Northern Ireland.

Rose de Freycinet

Interest in her and her diary led to a renewed interest in the wreck of the Uranie in the Falkland Islands.

The expedition brought back a great number of scientific specimens, including minerals, plants, insects, animals, despite the shipwreck of the Uranie in 1820 in the Falkland Islands.

Rosemary Leach

In 1992, Leach starred in An Ungentlemanly Act, a BBC television film about the first days of the invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982, portraying the real-life Lady Mavis Hunt, wife of the islands' then governor, Sir Rex Hunt.


Air Seychelles

Air Seychelles ended its contract in the third quarter of 2011 with the UK Ministry of Defence to provide service from RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, England, to RAF Ascension Island and then on to RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, in the South Atlantic.

Alice Havers

Her father was manager of the Falkland Islands, and she was brought up with her family there, and later at Montevideo.

Ambrose Cowley

In his diary he reported the discovery of the mythical Pepys Island, allegedly situated north of the Falkland Islands, prompting a number of mariners to look in vain for the nonexistent land.

Barry Elsby

Barry Elsby is a British born, Falkland Islands doctor and politician, who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency since a by-election in 2011 which filled the seat vacated by Emma Edwards.

Black-crowned Night Heron

In the Falkland Islands, the bird is called "quark", which is an onomatopoeia similar to its name in many other languages, like "kwak" in Dutch and Frisian, "kvakoš noční" in Czech, "квак" in Ukrainian, "кваква" in Russian, "Vạc" in Vietnamese, "Kowak-malam" in Indonesian, and "Waqwa" in Quechua.

Brazil Squadron

An expedition to the Falkland Islands was launched in late 1831 when the sloop-of-war USS Lexington was sent to Puerto Soledad to investigate the capture and possible armament of two American whalers.

Brewster–Sanford Expedition

Ramifications of the outbreak of war in Europe caused some difficulties for the Becks, but in August 1914 they visited the Falkland Islands and then moved to Mar del Plata, Argentina, where they were based until November.

British Forces Broadcasting Service

BFBS broadcasts to service personnel and their families and friends worldwide with local radio studios in Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and Northern Ireland and operational areas from the studio in Afghanistan.

Chile–United Kingdom relations

Both countries have neighbouring territories in the South Atlantic, with the Falkland Islands overseas territory of the UK within proximity to Chile's Tierra del Fuego Province and Cabo de Hornos commune.

Common galaxias

Common galaxias are one of the most widely distributed freshwater fish in the world and can be found around throughout New Zealand; in coastal streams in south eastern Australia, Tasmania and some parts of south west Western Australia; in Chile (From 35°S to 55S°), Patagonia, Argentina; in the Falkland Islands; and, in some Pacific Islands such as New Caledonia.

De Havilland Canada Dash 7

The aircraft undertakes regular shuttle flights between either Stanley on the Falkland Islands, or Punta Arenas in Chile, and the Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island.

Dolphin Gull

The Dolphin Gull (Leucophaeus scoresbii), sometimes erroneously called the Red-billed Gull (a somewhat similar but unrelated species from New Zealand), is a gull native to southern Chile and Argentina, and the Falkland Islands.

Fortuna Glacier

When Argentina militarily occupied the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, the British Armed Forces recaptured the island in 'Operation Paraquet', thereby removing the Argentinian military presence and restoring the island to British Sovereignty.

Gavin Short

Gavin Phillip Short (born 1962) is a Falkland Islands politician who has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Stanley constituency since the 2009 general election, winning re-election in 2013.

Hebe elliptica

Hebe elliptica is a plant of the family Plantaginaceae, which is endemic to New Zealand, Aisen and Magallanes in Chile, Tierra del Fuego, and the Falkland Islands.

José María Menéndez Menéndez

In 1876, he began the business of sheep farming, carrying sheep from the Falkland Islands, under the company "José Menéndez and Co." and the Estancia San Gregorio, now historic site of the Chilean commune, under the same name.

Long-tailed Meadowlark

The Long-tailed Meadowlark (Sturnella loyca) is a passerine bird of southern South America and the Falkland Islands, belonging to the meadowlark genus Sturnella in the icterid family that looks very similar to the related endangered species Pampas Meadowlark.

Louis Baillon

Louis Charles Baillon (born on 5 August 1881 in Fox Bay, Falkland Islands — died 9 September 1965 in Brixworth, Northamptonshire) is a former field hockey player, who won a gold medal with the England team at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.

Michael Blanch

Michael Dennis Blanch TD (born c. 1947) is a British diplomat who served as Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands from January 2000 to March 2003, and again as interim Chief Executive from 12 September 2007 to 3 January 2008.

Mike Rendell

Michael Rendell (born 1944) is a British-born Falkland Islands politician and former Royal Marine who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency from 2005 until 2009.

Mount Tenniel

Named in 1952 by Sir Miles Clifford, Government of the Falkland Islands, for his great-uncle Sir John Tenniel, 1820–1914, noted English illustrating artist, humorist, and political cartoonist.

National Navy of Uruguay

Under the late Spanish Empire, Montevideo became the main naval base (Real Apostadero de Marina) for the South Atlantic, with authority over the Argentine coast, Fernando Po, and the Falklands.

North Isles

These also happen to be the most northerly British territorial claims currently in existence, since Canadian independence, in contradistinction to those of Cornwall, which only represent the southernmost parts of the UK, and not those of British overseas territories, such as the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and British Antarctic Territory.

Operation Tabarin

Led by Lieutenant James Marr, the 14-strong team left the Falkland Islands in two ships, HMS William Scoresby (a minesweeping trawler) and Fitzroy, on Saturday January 29, 1944.

Port Egmont

Port Egmont was the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands, on Saunders Island and is named after the Earl of Egmont.

San Carlos Water

The settlements of San Carlos and Port San Carlos on the Water, as well as San Carlos River, all take their names from the ship San Carlos, which visited in 1768.

Shan Morgan

Her time in office coincided with sabre-rattling by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who described the British as "an occupying colonial force in the Falkland Islands" (Las Malvinas) in October 2010, when she complained to the UN about "militarisation of the South Atlantic".

Sharon Halford

Sharon Halford (born 27 November 1953) is a Falkland Islands politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Camp constituency from 2009 until 2013.

South Atlantic Medal

The reverse side has the Falkland Islands' coat of arms, which bears the words "DESIRE THE RIGHT" (an allusion to English explorer John Davis' ship, "Desire").

Stanley Harbour

As such this is the busiest waterway of the Falkland Islands and frequently visited by cruise ships, freighters and navy vessels, although this has lessened since the building of the two airports at RAF Mount Pleasant and Port Stanley Airport.

Titan Airways

Titan Airways' Boeing 767 operated to the Falkland Islands on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence for two years until September 2012; with twice weekly flights departing from RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, to RAF Mount Pleasant via RAF Ascension Island.

Wickham Heights

Rivers and streams such as the Malo River and San Carlos River spring in the Wickham Heights.

Yorke Bay

It is located one-half mile north of Port Stanley Airport, four miles to the northeast of the capital city of Stanley, on a peninsula connected to the mainland by the Boxer Bridge and a narrow isthmus known as "The Neck".