Falkland Islanders, also called Falklanders,Chater, Tony. The Falklands. St. Albans: The Penna Press, 1996. p. 137. 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. 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.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.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.
Identity
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:
"Kelpers" is a nickname given to Falkland Islanders because the islands are surrounded by large amounts of kelp.allwords.com definition for "Kelper"dictionary.com definition for "Kelper" 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).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."
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.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. 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:
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:
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,A Brief History of the Falkland Islands. Part 6 – The Build-Up to War. Falkland Islands Information Portal. 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.
A specific regional aspect of identity is the human relationship the Islanders traditionally maintain with Chile and Uruguay,Falkland Islands Government website. International Relations: Chile and Uruguay . and the well-known Islander rejection of the Argentine sovereignty claim:
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.Falkland Islands Government website. Economy: Background .
History
Early settlers
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.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. The average number of English and American sealing vessels operating in the area is estimated between 40 and 50,Islas Malvinas: Las Malvinas y el Archipiélago Fueguino, Museo Marítimo de Ushuaia. 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 , 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:
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, 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:
On 5 January 1833, at the moment when the remaining Argentine military abandoned the islands,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. 27 of the original Vernet settlers and two temporary residents remained in Port Louis.List of the residents of Port Louis, Falkland Islands as of 5 January 1833. 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 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:
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:
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.Destéfani, Laurio H. The Malvinas, the South Georgias and the South Sandwich Islands, the conflict with Britain, Buenos Aires: Edipress, 1982. 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.A Brief History of the Falkland Islands. Part 4 – The British Colonial Era. Falkland Islands Information Portal. 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.1851 Census Information, Falkland Islands Government Archives, Stanley.
Richard Clement Moody, the first British Governor of the Falkland Islands, recommended in his Dispatch 13 of 1842:
South American influence The earliest known Falklands settler was Carmelita Penny (Simon) who had arrived as a slave after 1826. 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 farm and valuable real estate in Stanley.1842 Census Information, Falkland Islands Government Archives, Stanley. 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".Lasserre, Augusto. Descripción de un viaje a las Malvinas. El Río de la Plata Newspaper, Buenos Aires, 19–21 November 1869.
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.