Falkland Islanders

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Falkland Islanders
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Two Falkland Islanders in 2003
Regions with significant populations
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Languages
English (see Falkland Islands English)
Religion

Falkland Islanders, also called Falklanders,[3] are the people of the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory in South America.

While it was long believed that the Falkland Islands were never discovered or inhabited by Indigenous peoples prior to European arrival, recent scientific evidence suggests otherwise. Archaeological and paleoecological data indicate prehistoric human activity on the islands centuries before European exploration. This evidence, which includes traces of abrupt fire activity, deposits of mixed marine vertebrates, and a locally sourced stone projectile point, suggests that capable seafaring peoples from Tierra del Fuego, such as the Yaghan (Yámana), may have reached the islands during the Holocene.[4] The modern Falkland Islander population derives from various origins since the 19th century. Earliest among these are the numerically small but internationally diverse early 19th century inhabitants of the Islands, comprising and descended in part from settlers brought by Luis Vernet, and English and American sealers; South American gauchos who settled in the 1840s and 1850s; and since the late 1830s, settlers largely from Britain (especially Scotland and Wales) with a minority from other European countries. More recently, there have been significant levels of immigration from Saint Helena, Chile, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe.[5][6]

Identity

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The Falkland Islanders consider themselves a nation, the ethnogenesis of which is no different from that of other immigrant nations typical of the Americas, Australia or New Zealand; indeed no different from the case of neighbouring South American nations, as pointed out by Councillor Mike Summers:

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We are as much a people as those in Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile and many other South American countries whose inhabitants are of principally European, Indigenous or African descent.

— Councillor Mike Summers OBE[7]

"Kelpers" is a nickname given to Falkland Islanders because the islands are surrounded by large amounts of kelp.[8][9] This term is no longer used as commonly as it once was (largely because it is considered racist and insulting by some islanders when used by Argentines).[10][better source needed]

Hon. Lewis Clifton OBE. Speaker, Falklands Legislative Council.

The Falkland Islanders are British by citizenship, and by either origins or naturalization. They are one of the nations and mini-nations of the United Kingdom and the British overseas territories, including also the English, Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish, Channel Islanders, Gibraltarians, Saint Helenians, Bermudians, Caymanians etc.[11] Along with their common British identity, each of these has its own distinct identity shaped in the respective particular circumstances of political, economic, social and cultural evolution history. According to Lewis Clifton, Speaker of the Falklands Legislative Council, the Falkland Islanders are no exception:

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Besides geographical isolation, the emerging of a distinct Falkland Islander national identity along with the originally undifferentiated British identity was possibly influenced by the devolution processes taking place among the United Kingdom nations:

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Since the 1960s, the political dimension of Falklander identity has evolved around the campaign for recognition of the Islanders' right to self-determination. Key to this was the formation of the Falkland Island Committee in 1968, Britain's recognition of the right to self-determination after the Islanders turned down the so-called "leaseback proposal" put forward by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1980,[12] and the new Falklands Constitution enacted in 1985. The constitution vests political power in the elected Falklands Legislative Council rather than the old style colonial governors.[13]

Hon. Mike Summers OBE. Member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly.

A specific regional aspect of identity is the human relationship the Islanders traditionally maintain with Chile and Uruguay,[14] and the well-known Islander rejection of the Argentine sovereignty claim:

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The Falklands War had tremendous security, economic and social implications for the Falkland Islanders. The War opened the prospects for long needed reforms, reversing the demographic, economic and social decline that the Falklands had suffered for several decades. The Islanders became self-confident masters of their natural resources, and managers of a vibrant economy that attracted a wide range of new technical and managerial personnel to immigrate.[15]

History

Early settlers

Falklands gauchos having mate. Watercolour by Dale, manager of Hope Place – Saladero in the 1850s.

Following the abandonment of the archipelago by the Spanish authorities in 1811, the only inhabitants of the islands were people who in their various capacities travelled back and forth, carried out a variety of commercial and shipping activities, sought refuge there, and through various efforts attempted to colonize the islands. Most numerous by far among them were the English and American sealers who had pursued their industry on the Falklands at least since the 1770s, as pointed out by US Secretary of State Edward Livingston.[16] The average number of English and American sealing vessels operating in the area is estimated between 40 and 50,[17] meaning that several hundred to 1,000 sealers were involved.

The settlement of Port Louis, established by Vernet on the site of the former Spanish settlement of Puerto Soledad, had about 100 inhabitants at its high point. In his account of his voyages in Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:WPSHIPS utilities/data' not found., Captain Robert FitzRoy quoted references to the numbers and makeup of the inhabitants from a fellow officer who had previously visited Port Louis. According to that source there were about 100 people in the settlement, comprising:

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That population was reduced in 1831–32 by various means unconnected with the British arrival at Port Louis on 2 January 1833. Luis Vernet and his family left the Falklands, and returned to Buenos Aires in November 1831 following his action involving the use of force against local American sealers,[16] while the United States warship USS Lexington, Commander Silas Duncan arrested seven residents he deemed responsible for the detention of US sealing vessels, and also transported from the islands a further 33 persons, including families. In his report on the incident Duncan says:

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On 5 January 1833, at the moment when the remaining Argentine military abandoned the islands,[18] 27 of the original Vernet settlers and two temporary residents remained in Port Louis.[19] These included 12 gauchos from Argentina and their Capataz (foreman); a Frenchman; five Indians from Montevideo, Uruguay; three women from mainland South America and their two children. Other nationalities recorded are Irish, Scottish, German, and North American, making up a tiny population of some seven different nationalities.

An Islander mounted in typical Falklands style with the usual gaucho horse gear, c. 1936.
Gaucho stone corral at Sapper Hill, East Falkland (120 m in diameter, 3 m high); dated 1840s.

An insight into the state of the local population in March 1833 is provided by Captain Fitzroy who outlines the scene of a land based population that is vastly outnumbered by the many ships that ply their trade around the islands, the whole completely unregulated by any authority whatsoever:

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Charles Darwin, who visited the Falklands in 1833 and 1834, was greatly impressed by the expertise of his two gaucho assistants in the exploration of the interior of East Falkland:

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According to Lieutenant B.J. Sullivan's survey of the Falklands, corroborated by other sources, in 1838 the then single settlement of Port Louis had a population of 40–45 residents including some gauchos and women from among Luis Vernet's settlers.[20] The population grew to 50 in 1841, and 200 by 1849, boosted by the building of Stanley, the new capital with better port facilities which was inaugurated in 1845. New arrivals included more gauchos from South America and military pensioners, farmers and shepherds from the British Isles.[21] The 1851 Falklands Census recorded 20 men as 'Gaucho' by profession, mostly of 'South American' nationality, with 8 of them having wives and young children.[22]

Richard Clement Moody, the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands, recommended in his Dispatch 13 of 1842: Template:Quote

South American influence

The earliest known Falklands settler was Carmelita Penny (Simon) who had arrived as a slave after 1826.[23] Her sons José Simon, Manuel Coronel Jr. and Richard Penny Jr. were all native Falkland Islanders (born in 1831, 1834 and 1837 respectively), whose fathers had been resident in the islands since before 1833. Among the prominent early Falkland Islanders of Buenos Ayrean origins were the gaucho Manuel Coronel Sr., Santiago Lopez (Darwin's 'St Jago'), German-born Charles Kussler, Antonina Roxa, and another slave Gregoria Madrid. Most popular among them was Antonina Roxa whose hard work in several occupations (she was a skillful gaucho, and worked as such at Hope Place – Saladero) made her the owner of a 6,000-acre (24 km2) farm and valuable real estate in Stanley.[22][24] The South American contribution to the Falklander ethnogenesis is further recorded by Commodore Augusto Lasserre of the Argentine Navy, who traveled extensively around the islands; according to his account there were up to 20 Argentine-born Islanders in 1869, "working either as labourers or foremen in the ranches, because in this kind of work they are better than the majority of the foreigners".[20][25]

Location of some Falkland Islands corrals.

The mainland South American-born Falkland Islanders contributed to shaping the Falklander identity in the 1830s–1850s, and nowadays their legacy is visible in Falklands genealogy, Falklands English vernacular, and Falklands toponymy.

A number of modern Falkland Islanders have some mainland South Americans among their 19th century ancestors, mostly Uruguayan gauchos who settled in the islands in connection with the development of the cattle and sheep farming industry that was to form the backbone of the Falklands economy for rather more than a century, until the offshore fisheries assumed that role in the 1980s. Eventually, gauchos took part in the colonization of the uninhabited West Falkland in the 1860s and 1870s, although by that time many of them were of European origins (Scottish, Gibraltarian etc.). There are some two dozen stone or turf-built corrals scattered around Camp – picturesque historical monuments of the 1840s–1870s, the epoch of pioneers who settled and developed the country outside Port Louis and Stanley.[26]

The Falklands English vernacular has a fair amount of borrowed Spanish words (often modified or corrupted); they are particularly numerous, indeed dominant in the local horse-related terminology. For instance, the Islanders use 'alizan', 'colorao', 'negro', 'blanco', 'gotiao', 'picasso', 'sarco', 'rabincana' etc. for certain horse colours and looks, or 'bosal', 'cabresta', 'bastos', 'cinch', 'conjinilla', 'meletas', 'tientas', 'manares' etc. for various items of horse gear.[26]

Unlike the older English, French and Spanish place names given by mariners, which refer mainly to islands, rocks, bays, coves, and capes (points) important for navigation, the post-1833 Spanish names usually identify inland geographical locations and features, reflecting the new practical necessity for orientation, land delimitation and management in the cattle and sheep farming. Among the typical such names or descriptive and generic parts of names are 'Rincon Grande', 'Ceritos', 'Campito', 'Cantera', 'Terra Motas', 'Malo River', 'Brasse Mar', 'Dos Lomas', 'Torcida Point', 'Pioja Point', 'Estancia', 'Oroqueta', 'Piedra Sola', 'Laguna Seco', 'Manada', etc.[26]

Late nineteenth to early twentieth century

The development of the sheep-breeding industry in the second half of the 19th century was accompanied by substantial immigration, increasing the population sevenfold in fifty years, from 287 in 1851 to 2,043 in 1901.[27] The vast majority of immigrants during that period came from the British Isles, mostly from Scotland. Scots were particularly common in Darwin, many of them coming from the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which have a similar climate to these areas. Template:Quote

An additional boost to that population growth came from the expansion of Stanley's port activities in service of the ships sailing between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific via the Strait of Magellan or Cape Horn. The port was particularly busy during the California Gold Rush, subsiding following the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914.

The early 20th century brought about a new industry to the region, Antarctic whaling in South Georgia, that supported a transient population varying from few hundred in winter to over 1,000 in summer. Some Falkland Islanders found employment with South Georgian whaling bases or ships, while some whalers settled in the Falklands to blend into the local populace. The whalers were predominantly Scandinavian (Norwegians, Swedes and Danes), with a minority of Britons, Germans, and a variety of other European nations. As a result of both natural demographic growth and ongoing immigration, the population of the Falkland Islands reached a peak of 2,392 recorded in the 1931 census, a figure that would not be surpassed until late in the twentieth century.[27]

In the early 1930s, Governor James O'Grady observed that a substantial divide still existed between the residents of Stanley and the isolated Camp districts, who were primarily sheep farmers and shepherds. He described the Camp residents as "reticent" and "lonely" and stated "they and the town people are complete strangers", with many Camp residents visiting Stanley for the first time during the Falklands centenary celebrations in 1933.[28]

Post-Falklands War

Falklands' youth.

Having shrunk as low as 1,813 in 1980,[27] since the Falklands War the number of Falkland Islanders has been steadily increasing to exceed 3,100 in 2007.[29] That new growth was supported by a thriving economy, with wool monoculture giving way to a more diversified agriculture, fisheries and tourism, augmented with services related to the military garrison as well as to the islands' role as one of the major gateways to neighbouring Antarctica. According to the 2001 census, the people who have settled in the Falklands during the last decade originated from the United Kingdom (30 per cent of the entire population excepting those resident in connection with the military garrison, including however some children born abroad to Falklander parents), Saint Helena and Ascension Island (6 per cent; 15.8 per cent if people resident in connection with the military garrison were included,[30] Chile (3 per cent), Australia and New Zealand (2.3 per cent), Argentina (1 per cent), followed by Russia, Germany, with minor contributions by several dozens other nations from six continents. Children born abroad to Falkland Island women were enumerated in the 2001 census as being "Foreign-born".[31]

Some Falkland Islanders were even born beyond the Antarctic Convergence, most recently in the 1980s in the territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.[32][33]

The Falkland Islands residents want to remain part of the United Kingdom following the 2013 referendum[34].

Demographics

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In the 2021 Falkland Islands census, 1,100 people (35% of the population of the Falklands) declared their nationality solely as Falkland Islander, 420 people (13% of the population) declared their nationality as Falkland Islander and British, and 144 people (5% of the population) declared their nationality as Falkland Islander and some other combination of national identities.

In the same census, 40% of the population of the Falklands was born in the Falklands, 25% of the population was born in the UK, and the remaining 35% of the population was born elsewhere.[1]

About 70 percent of Falkland Islanders are of British descent, primarily as a result of Scottish and Welsh settlement to the islands.[35] The native-born inhabitants call themselves "Islanders"; the term "Kelpers", from the kelp which grows profusely around the islands, is still used in the Islands. People from the United Kingdom who have obtained Falkland Island status are known locally as 'belongers'.[36]

A few Islanders are of French, Gibraltarian, Portuguese, and Scandinavian descent. Some are the descendants of whalers who reached the Islands during the last two centuries. There is also a small minority of South American, mainly Chilean origin (5%), and in more recent times many people from Saint Helena (10%) and Philippines (5%) have also come to work and live in the Islands.[37]

Nationality

With retrospective effect from 1 January 1983, as provided in the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, the Falkland Islanders have been full British citizens.

Religion

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The most predominant religion is Christianity, of which the primary denominations are Church of England, Roman Catholic, United Free Church, and Lutheran. Smaller numbers are Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists, and Greek Orthodox; with the latter being due to Greek fishermen passing through.[citation needed] There is also a congregation of the Baháʼí Faith.[38] The islands are the home of the Apostolic Prefecture of the Falkland Islands.

Languages

The official language of the islands is English.[39] The Falklands English vernacular has a fair amount of borrowed Spanish words (often modified or corrupted); they are particularly numerous, and indeed dominant, in the local horse-related terminology. For instance, the Islanders use 'alizan', 'colorao', 'negro', 'blanco', 'gotiao', 'picasso', 'sarco', 'rabincana' etc. for certain horse colours and looks, or 'bosal', 'cabresta', 'bastos', 'cinch', 'conjinilla', 'meletas', 'tientas', 'manares' etc. for various items of horse gear.[26]

Knowledge of Spanish as a foreign language is fairly widespread, as it is a compulsory subject in school, being the lingua franca in much of mainland South America. As the schools follow the English education system, European Spanish as prescribed by the Real Academia Española is taught, rather than a South American variety of the language, but Falkland Islanders may use seseo pronunciation typical of South American dialect. There is a small population of Hispanophones in the islands, consisting mostly of Chileans, and the language is also present in some place names.[citation needed]

Sport

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". There are more than 30 different sports clubs on the Falklands, including badminton, clay-pigeon shooting, cricket, football, golf, hockey, netball, rugby union, sailing, swimming, table tennis and volleyball.[40] The Falklands compete in the Commonwealth Games and in the biennial Island Games.[41] Louis Baillon is the only Falkland Islander to have become an Olympic champion, as a member of the British field hockey team which won a gold medal in 1908.

See also

References

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  1. ^ The United Kingdom census does not record the number of Falkland Islanders living in the UK.

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  1. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."2021 Census Report" (XLSX). Policy and Economic Development Unit, Falkland Islands Government. 2022.
  2. ^ [1] The Baháʼí faith has a small local following.
  3. ^ Chater, Tony. The Falklands. St. Albans: The Penna Press, 1996. p. 137. Template:ISBN
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hamley, Kit M.; Gill, Jacquelyn L.; Krasinski, Kathryn E.; Groff, Dulcinea V.; Hall, Brenda L.; Sandweiss, Daniel H.; Southon, John R.; Brickle, Paul; Lowell, Thomas V. (27 October 2021). "Evidence of prehistoric human activity in the Falkland Islands". Science Advances. 7 (44). doi:10.1126/sciadv.abh3803. PMC 8550247. PMID 34705512.
  5. ^ FitzRoy, Robert. Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Proceedings of the second expedition, 1831–36, under the command of Captain Robert Fitz-Roy, R.N. London: Henry Colburn, 1839. Chapter XII, p. 267.
  6. ^ Seventeenth periodic reports of States parties due in 2002: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. UN Document CERD/C/430/Add.3, 13 March 2003.
  7. ^ Summers, Mike. Self-Determination In The Falkland Islands. In: L. Ivanov et al. The Future of the Falkland Islands and Its People. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2003. 96 pp. Template:ISBN
  8. ^ allwords.com definition for "Kelper"
  9. ^ dictionary.com definition for "Kelper"
  10. ^ Second Class Citizens, The Argentine View of the Falkland Islanders, Falkland Islands Association Newsletter, No.53, November 1992, p10-11 "The idea of Falkland Islanders as second class citizens is now firmly established in Argentina. They are imagined as ignorant elderly serfs of the Falkland Islands Company. The word Kelper is now part of Argentine Spanish too – as a term of contempt."
  11. ^ L.L. Ivanov et al. The Future of the Falkland Islands and Its People. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2003. Printed in Bulgaria by Double T Publishers. 96 pp. Template:ISBN
  12. ^ A Brief History of the Falkland Islands. Part 6 – The Build-Up to War. Script error: No such module "webarchive". Falkland Islands Information Portal.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Clifton was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Falkland Islands Government website. International Relations: Chile and Uruguay Script error: No such module "webarchive"..
  15. ^ Falkland Islands Government website. Economy: Background Script error: No such module "webarchive"..
  16. ^ a b Maisch, Christian J. The Falkland/Malvinas Islands Clash of 1831–32: U.S. and British Diplomacy in the South Atlantic. Diplomatic History, Spring 2000, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp. 185–209.
  17. ^ Islas Malvinas: Las Malvinas y el Archipiélago Fueguino, Museo Marítimo de Ushuaia[permanent dead link].
  18. ^ List of the soldiers and civilians who left Port Louis, Falkland Islands on the Sarandí on 5 January 1833, and the prisoners sent to Buenos Aires by José María Pinedo in the Rapid on 1 January 1833.
  19. ^ List of the residents of Port Louis, Falkland Islands as of 5 January 1833.
  20. ^ a b Destéfani, Laurio H. The Malvinas, the South Georgias and the South Sandwich Islands, the conflict with Britain, Buenos Aires: Edipress, 1982.
  21. ^ A Brief History of the Falkland Islands. Part 4 – The British Colonial Era. Script error: No such module "webarchive". Falkland Islands Information Portal.
  22. ^ a b 1851 Census Information, Falkland Islands Government Archives, Stanley.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.The Political Register. D. Green. 1832. p. 160.
  24. ^ 1842 Census Information, Falkland Islands Government Archives, Stanley.
  25. ^ Lasserre, Augusto. Descripción de un viaje a las Malvinas. El Río de la Plata Newspaper, Buenos Aires, 19–21 November 1869.
  26. ^ a b c d Spruce, Joan. Corrals and Gauchos: Some of the people and places involved in the cattle industry. Falklands Conservation Publication. Bangor: Peregrine Publishing, 1992. 48 pp.
  27. ^ a b c Falklands Census 2001: Tables. Script error: No such module "webarchive". Falkland Islands Information Portal.
  28. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Giles, Diana (2019). "O'Grady, Sir James". Dictionary of Falklands Biography. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  29. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The World Factbook – Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  30. ^ Government of Saint Helena. Political development, current constitutional review and the human relationship with the Falkland Islands. In: L. Ivanov et al. The Future of the Falkland Islands and Its People. Sofia: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2003. 96 pp. Template:ISBN)
  31. ^ Table 10 of the Falklands Census 2001 Script error: No such module "webarchive". contained the note: "Some of those born outside the Islands are children of persons from the Falkland Islands where the mother's confinement, for medical reasons, occurred overseas, but the child arrived within six months of birth".
  32. ^ S/V Pelagic, Log Entry for 6 February 1997.
  33. ^ Golden Fleece Expedition Cruises Script error: No such module "webarchive"..
  34. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Document". www.gazeta.ru. Retrieved 20 May 2026.
  35. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Vincent, Patrick (March 1983). The Geographical Journal, Vol. 149, No. 1, pp 16–17.
  36. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Anthony Browne visits the Falklands". the Guardian. 17 March 2002. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  37. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."UK | Falklands questions answered". BBC News. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  38. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Falkland Islands Baháʼí Community Newsletter". Horizon.co.fk. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2010.
  39. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."CIA - The World Factbook". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  40. ^ Falklands Information website clubs page Script error: No such module "webarchive".. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  41. ^ Island Games website membership page. Retrieved 9 July 2008.

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