Reply #25: No matter who owns it... [View All]

[CJvR]

The Falklands will always be a colonial enclave. There existed no nativ population prior to first the French and later and separately the British settled there. The French claim was turned over to the Spain and the enclaves co-existed unaware of each other. Once discovered the Spanish removed the British outpost by force, causing Britain to threaten war which resulted in the restoration of the British outpost. Later the British abandoned the outpost although not the claim on the islands. The Spanish outpost kept going for a few years longer until the chaos following the collapse of the Spanish colonial empire made maintaining it impossible and it was evacuated to the mainland leaving the islands unpopulated once again.