16 Facts About Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.

Oil exploration, licensed by the Falkland Islands Government, remains controversial as a result of maritime disputes with Argentina.

Name "Falkland Islands" comes from Falkland Sound, the strait that separates the two main islands.

West Falkland Islands was left abandoned, and Puerto Soledad became mostly a prison camp.

For more than a century, the Falkland Islands Company dominated the trade and employment of the archipelago; in addition, it owned most housing in Stanley, which greatly benefited from the wool trade with the UK.

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The Falklands governed these territories as the Falkland Islands Dependencies starting in 1908, and retained them until their dissolution in 1985.

All politicians in the Falkland Islands are independent; no political parties exist on the islands.

Falkland Islands are biogeographically part of the Antarctic zone, with strong connections to the flora and fauna of Patagonia in mainland South America.

Falkland Islands are frequented by marine mammals, such as the southern elephant seal and the South American fur seal, and various types of cetaceans; offshore islands house the rare striated caracara.

Economy of the Falkland Islands is ranked the 222nd largest out of 229 in the world by GDP, but ranks 5th worldwide by GDP per capita.

The main international airport, located at RAF Mount Pleasant on East Falkland Islands, provides flights to RAF Brize Norton in the UK and mainland South America.

Falkland Islands population is homogeneous, mostly descended from Scottish and Welsh immigrants who settled in the territory after 1833.

The Falkland Islands-born population are descended from English and French people, Gibraltarians, Scandinavians and South Americans.

Education in the Falkland Islands, which follows England's system, is free and compulsory for residents aged between 5 and 16 years.

The Falkland Islands government pays for older students to attend institutions of higher education, usually in the United Kingdom.

Falkland Islands have one weekly newspaper The Penguin News, and television and radio broadcasts generally feature programming from the United Kingdom.