Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are a series of relatively small, lightly inhabited islands and islets found in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South America. The Falkland Islands, which include the major islands of East and West Falkland in addition to nearly eight hundred smaller islands, are a territory of Britain. The Falkland Islands cover a combined land area of around four thousand seven hundred square miles, and have a total population of about three thousand two hundred residents. The Falkland Islands did not have any permanent inhabitants until the arrival of European explorers and settlers in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A number of nations have contested control over the Falkland Islands, with the most salient example coming in the year nineteen eighty two, when Argentina invaded the archipelago, only to be decisively expelled two months later. Since the end of the Falkland Island War, the economy of the archipelago has rebounded and seen significant growth in the areas of fishing and tourism. There are a small number of permanent inhabitants, meaning that the archipelago has no colleges or universities, only a few primary schools and one secondary school.

The highest point of the Falkland Islands, Mount Usborne, measures in at more than two thousand three hundred feet, highlighting the rocky, mountainous nature of the archipelago. The Falkland Islands are home to a number of different plant and animal species, including a variety of marine mammals, insects, and plants. The Falkland Islands have a relatively cool climate, although the temperature rarely falls below thirty degrees Fahrenheit or rises above sixty five degrees. The biodiversity, mild temperatures, historical significance, and scenery of the Falkland Islands have seen a number of new tourists in recent years, many of whom find accommodations in the capital city of Stanley.