Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands (pronounced /ˈfɔːlklənd/; Spanish: Islas Malvinas) are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago, consisting of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands, is a self-governing British Overseas Territory. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland along with the second city Darwin.

Ever since the re-establishment of British rule in 1833, Argentina has claimed sovereignty. In pursuit of this claim, which is rejected by the islanders, Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982. This precipitated the two-month-long undeclared Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom and resulted in the defeat and withdrawal of the Argentine forces. It is currently on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

Since the war, the referendum on Independance was carried out and in 1992 10 years after the War began the Islands were declared part of an Independant Republic. The military protection of the islands is currently controled by the British Armed Forces and a small local force made up of the Police of the islands and armed volenteers. After Independance the Islands began a period of economic revolution making profits from Oil, Timber, Gas, Fishing and Banking.

Pre-Independance

 * Main article: History of the Falkland Islands

Post-Independance
The Falkland Islands Gained independace after a referendum in 1992 which led to a 70% independance vote and then over the next 18 months they set up the Government and negotations over the military, economy and politics etc. The Falklands officially became independant on the 14th June on Liberation Day 10 years after the Argentine Forces Surrendered. After the first elections the Liberal Party won instating Derick Hutton as the Prime Minister of the Falkand Islands, he began by setting out a 10 year plan for economic prosperity which included foresting several large sections of the country, intoducing immigrants to the nation and extracting the untapped sources of oil off the coast of the country.

The Plan began to work and most people had sour feelings at the begining but as it gained pace and became more successful people began to favour Huttons ideas. The Capital Stanley was becoming a large town equal to Reykjavik and was a banking and fishing centre meanwhile the settlement of Fox Bay on West Falkland was growing as an oil port with many rich investors buying homes to be closer to the Oil Port.

In 1996 the election led to Hutton being re-elected and he continued with his plan, the massive Pine Forest over islands were becoming havens for sports enthusiasts who would flock annually for the Island Springfest where some of the up and coming sports stars would display their talent.

In 2000 the islands went through a massive infastructure improvement scheme in which many new roads were built and existing mud tracks were tarmaced making it easy to travel across the country plus the first Dual-Carriage Way connecting Darwin and Stanley was built signifing a major step forward in the nations history. However this first exiting period of growth was overshadowed by the Buoy Colossus Crisis in which a controversial oil rig was claimed by the Argentine Government, this first insident since the War led to major international attention with warnings by the UN making sanctions on the argentine government if it didn't leave the rig plus a stand off between the FIS Duty (Falkland Islands Ship Duty) and ARA Colombus (Armada de la República Argentina Colombus) which led to the edge of war. The 14 day crisis came to an end with a joint Anglo-Falkand force retacking the ship in Operation Fortune Dawn, this mission wasn't without loss as Captain Richard Forks was shot dead by an Argentine officer plus 3 other men were injured. In the 2000 election the third and final term of Derick Hutton was instated after his several major successes. The 2001 terrorist attack in USA led to the war on terror with Falklands sending 200 men to Iraq and Afghanistan to fight under the guidence of the Brittish Army.

The next 3 years were dominated by growth and expansion by the government which led to the 'Greening' of the islands and the connecting between cities. Currently the island which suffered fairly lightly in the Economic Crisis is begining to negotiate the handover of South Georgia and the Sandwitch Islands along with 2 antartic research stations.

Geology

 * Main article: Geography of the Falkland Islands

Politics
The Islands Parliament meets every week in the Senate where they discuss political issues and issues about the island. It is currently ruled by the Liberal Party or the 'Righters' which have ruled since independance however the Falklanders Party or 'Kelpers' made gains in the more rural areas whishing to establish a government for native falklanders. The current Prime Minister is Vernon MacQuarie who is a son of a Scottish RAF pilot who settled after the war, MacQuarie has begun to extend the 10 year plan plus make the nation more stable and stronger in the global market. The Islands are split into 13 Counties the largest being Albermale on West Falkland but the most populated is Stanley. Each County has a representative in the Senate who each vote on decisions in the Parliament.

Transport
There are 3 train lines that cross the country, the Stanley to Darwin Line, Stanley to Fox Bay Line and Port Carlos to Stanley Line. These Train lines are planned to be expanded from Lively Island to Stanley plus North Arm to Darwin. Stanley has planned to build a very short tram line from Christ Church Cathedral to Government House which would strech from one end of old Stanley to another. The Dual Carriage Way from Stanley to Darwin is the largest road in the country with frequent use, the other roads of the island have been expanded and reformed in recent years making the island widely connected and easily accessable appart for the desolate interior. The Hutton Bridge connecting West Falkland with Lafonia is currently under construction and is predicted to open in 4 years, it will be 3.4 Miles long from East Falkland to West. This project will cost around F£16. Million (F£: Falkland Pounds) which will be the first connection between the islands. The Bridge will be 3.4 miles long, it will establish the fastest route between Fox Bay and Stanley plus it will be the 2nd Dual Carriage way in the country and the only rail link between the islands.

There are four main Airports on the Island, one in Fox Bay (West Falkland Airport), Stanley (Stanley International Airport), Mount Pleasant Air Base (East Falkland Airport), Darwin (Lafonia Airport). Flights are mainly opperated by Falkland Air, LAN and Brittish MoD, filghts can be taken from RAF Brize Norton, London Heathrow, Buenos Aires, Montivideo, Cape Town, Santiago, Punta Arenas and Rio Gallegos. Some of these flights have stop off points half way such as the Brize Norton flight stops at Ascention Island and the Punta Arenas flight stops at Rio Gallegos.

Ferries are widely available across the island, serivices operate mainly from Stanley and Fox Bay but they stop off at some of the smallest settlements, they are the main mode of transport around the islands.

Media
There are 5 official Falkland TV stations: Mercopress TV, Falkland News Network (FNN) 1, FNN 2, Brittish Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) 1, Falkland Island TV 1 (FITV). These limmited local stations show a range of programming but the outside world's TV is also accessable, TV stations such as BBC, Sky, CNN, ESPN etc are broadcasted but only accessable via a satalite. Radio is widely used throughout the islands and the main 4 stations are the Falkland Islands Radio Service (FIRS) 1, FIRS 2, Stanley Radio and Malvinas FM*, other radio channels are available but these are the main channels listened to by the majority of the public.

There are 2 newspapers that were published pre-independance but post-independance 4 more have been made, they are: The Penguin News, Teaberry Express, Falkland Island Telegraph, Malvinas Press*, Stanley Fortnight and the Warrah Press. Each of these news papers operate frequent services either Daily, Weekly or Bi-Weekly.


 * Any media outlets with the name Malvinas is sponsored by the Argentine Government however it is read mainly by the Spanish Population of the islands, the majority of people call the outlets 'Intruders' and many people deliberately Boycott these outlets however they remain mainstream.

Demographics
There are believed to have 343,000 people on the island at the last estimate in 2010. These people are believed to be 70% Brittish, 20% Hispanic and 10% Other (mainly Jewish, Arab and Black) each mainly believing in: 84% Protestant, 6% Catholic, 10% Other or None Stated. The Native Islanders called 'Kelpers' are beginning to be outnumbered by immigrants but this is only in the three major settlements and in the Interior of the islands the are the majority. The official language of the islands is English (spoken in the regional Accent) however Spanish is popular mainly used by Argentine Immigrants or Uruguayan Immigrants. Falkland Islanders can apply for double and triple citizenship mainly people opt for British-Falklander Citizenship or Argentine-Falklander Citizenship.