Introduction

The Falkland Islands comprise a group of 780 islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, 480 km off the east coast of Argentina. Together, the islands cover 12,173 km2 (slightly larger than Jamaica and Kosovo, slightly smaller than Connecticut, about half the size of Wales and a third the size of Baden-Württemberg), with a resident population of 2,955, according to the 2006 census. There are two main islands, East and West Falkland, and the capital is Stanley, on East Falkland, where 85 per cent of the resident population live. In addition to the resident population, around 2,000 British military personnel are based at RAF Mount Pleasant, 50 km west of Stanley. Politically, the Falklands are an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.

Closely associated with the Falklands, but now technically independent of them, are South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) (capital Grytviken), another UK Overseas Territory situated 1,390 km east-southeast of the Falklands. South Georgia, at 3,528 km2 the same size roughly as Luxembourg, Saarland or the county of Dorset in England, was once an important whaling station. The 1909 census found a population of 720, of which over 90 per cent were Scandinavian, predominantly Norwegian. The whaling stations began to decline in the mid twentieth century, with the last closing in 1966, and today there is no settled civilian population, although there are two permanently staffed British Antarctic Research Stations, as well as Government Officers and curators staffing the museum and shop that are visited by passing cruise ships.