For the past few centuries, relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina have been
pretty shaky.
The heart of their dispute lies in a tiny archipelago, some 300 miles from the coast
of Argentina, called the Falkland Islands.
Their struggle stems from the question of who actually owns the islands.
So what’s the whole story?
Why do the UK and Argentina hate each other?
Well, the history is a little complicated.
But simply put, the first person to actually claim the Islands was an English sailor named
John Strong in 1690.
While both Spain and France made various claims on the Islands, the British ultimately maintained
their jurisdiction.
Argentina didn’t become a part of the equation until 1820 when an American mercenary landed
on the Falkland Islands and declared them for what is now Argentina.
About 9 years later, Argentina gave the islands away as payment for a debt, a move that prompted
the UK to send a ship in 1833 to reestablish the British flag.
It was met with little resistance, as the Argentine commander was heavily outnumbered.
For nearly the next 150 years, the British controlled the Islands while Argentina continued
to dispute their sovereignty.
After increasing tensions between the two countries, as well as an economic collapse
and military regime change in Argentina, the Argentine military invaded the Falkland Islands
in 1982.
They assumed the British would not respond with force.
They were wrong.
Within weeks, the British mounted an assault to retake the Islands, while most of the European
Community backed the UK and imposed sanctions on Argentina.
After three months of intense fighting, the British reconquered the Falkland Islands,
and expelled all Argentine forces from the area.
In the years following, the British ramped up their military presence on the islands,
granted all residents full British Citizenship, and gave the Islands full self-governance
as a British dependency.
But in 2006, Argentina began claiming sovereignty again in an attempt to secure fishing and
petroleum rights.
In 2009, Argentina made a territory claim to the UN concerning an area including the
Falklands, which the UK denied as being legitimate.
The following year, in 2010, Argentina demanded that any ships that wanted to go to the Falkland
Islands would have to seek a permit from the Argentine government.
Both the British and Falklands government ignored this demand.
Finally, in 2013, Falkland Islanders voted in a referendum on whether the territory would
stay British.
With nearly every single Island resident voting to remain a British territory, it would seem
that the question of sovereignty was solved.
But in response, the Argentine government said that the referendum had quote “no value”,
since the population of the Islands was “implanted” by the British.
Despite some pretty good reasons as to why the UK should hold dominion over the Islands,
Argentina has argued that because the islands are closer to them than to Britain, Argentina
should have control over them.
This argument has widely been called ridiculous.
To learn more about tense relations between other countries, check out our playlist now,
including this one on why Venezuela Hates the
United States.
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