Synopsis
This volume offers a complete history of the Falkland Islands. It takes the complex, controversial story of the Islands and produces a compelling history of the turbulent years of disputed sovereignty. It also brings the story up to the end of the 20th century by covering all the important developments since the war in 1982, particularly the development of the fishing industry and the prospecting for oil. The author takes the reader from the Spanish Pope Alexander VI's Papal Bull "Inter caetera" of May 4th 1493 - which assigned to Castile the exclusive right to acquire territory, to trade in, or even approach the lands lying west of the meridian situated 100 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands - to the same, now familiar, declaration that the Argentine delegation makes every year to the De-colonization Committee. Coming to modern times, the author is able to write authoritatively of the suspicions and anxieties of the Islanders in the 1960s and 1970s because she was living with them at the time. While she makes no pretensions to be a military historian, her account of the war in 1982 offers a useful summary of the main events. The final chapters show the remarkable progress that the Islanders have made since 1982, both politically and economically.
