FALKLAND ISLANDS, a group of islands in the South Atlantic ocean, belonging to Great Britain, and lying about 25o m. E. of the nearest point in the mainland of South America, between 51° and 53° S., and 40' and 61° 25' W. With South Georgia island, the South Shetlands, South Orkneys, and other depend encies, they form the most southerly colony of the British empire. The islands, inclusive of rocks and reefs, exceed ioo in number and have a total area of 6,50o sq.m. ; but only two are of con siderable size. The area of East Falkland is about 3,00o sq.m., and that of West Falkland 2,300, while most of the others are mere islets, the largest 16 m. long by 8 m. wide. The two principal islands are separated by Falkland sound, a narrow strait from 18 to 21 m. in width, running north-east and south-west. The gen eral appearance of the islands is not unlike that of one of the outer Hebrides, dreary and monotonous inland, with much up land bog, but with fine coastal scenery. The coast-line of both main islands is deeply indented and many of the bays and inlets form secure and sheltered harbours, some of which, however, are difficult of access to sailing ships.
East Falkland is, except for a narrow peninsula of II- miles wide, bisected by two deep fjords, Choiseul and Brenton sounds. The northern portion is hilly, and is crossed by a rugged and difficult range, the Wickham Heights, running east and west, and rising in Mt. Usborne to 2,245 ft. The remainder of the island consists chiefly of low undulating ground, mostly pasture and morass, with many shallow freshwater tarns, and small streams running in the valleys. There are two fine inlets, Berkeley sound and Port William, at the north-eastern extremity of the island. Port Louis, formerly the seat of government, is at the head of Berkeley sound, but the anchorage there having been found rather too exposed, about the year 1844 a town was laid out, and the necessary public buildings were erected on Stanley harbour, a land-locked harbour within Port William. West Falkland is more hilly near the east island; the principal mountain range, the Hornby hills, runs north and south parallel with Falkland sound. Mount Adam, the highest hill in the islands, is 2,315 ft. high.
The little town of Stanley is built along the south shore of Stanley harbour and stretches a short way up the slope ; it has a population of about 900. Government house, grey, stone-built and slated, calls to mind a manse in Shetland or Orkney. Next to Stanley the most important place on East Falkland is Darwin on Choiseul sound—a village of Scottish shepherds and a station of the Falkland Islands Company.
The Falkland islands consist entirely, with the exception of the southern part of East Falkland, which is Permo-Carboniferous, of the older Palaeozoic rocks, Lower Devonian or Upper Silurian, slightly metamorphosed and a good deal crumpled and distorted, in the low grounds clay slate and soft sandstone, and on the ridges hardened sandstone passing into the conspicuous white quartzites. There are no minerals of value, but galena is found in small quantity, and in some places it contains a large percentage of silver. There is also a quantity of fine white sand reported suitable for glass-making, and there are small and sporadic occur rences of high-grade iron ores.
Many of the valleys in the Falklands are occupied by pale glistening masses which at a little distance much resemble small glaciers. Examined more closely these are found to be vast accumulations of blocks of quartzite, irregular in form, but having a tendency to a rude diamond shape, from 2 to 20 ft. in length, and half as much in width, and of a thickness corresponding with that of the quartzite ridges on the hills above. The blocks are angular, and rest irregularly one upon another. The whole mass looks as if it were, as it is, slowly sliding down the valley to the sea. These "stone runs" are looked upon with great wonder by the shifting population of the Falklands, and they are shown to visitors with many strange speculations as to their mode of forma tion. One of many theories is that the hard beds of quartzite were denuded by the disintegration of the softer layers in an inter glacial period, slid down the slopes by their own weight and have since been completely denuded by the action of water.
The Falkland islands correspond very nearly in latitude in the southern hemisphere with London in the northern. The tempera ture is equable, the average of the two midsummer months being about 4 7 ° Fahr., and that of the two midwinter months 3 7 ° Fahr. The climate is not unlike that of the Outer Hebrides but is some what colder: occasional heavy snow-falls occur, and the sea in shallow inlets is covered with a thin coating of ice. The sky is almost constantly overcast, and rain falls, mostly in a drizzle and in frequent showers, on about 25o days in the year. The rainfall is not great, only about 26 in., but the mean humidity for the year is high. November is considered the only dry month. The prevalent winds from the west, south-west and south blow con tinuously, at times approaching the force of a hurricane. "A region more exposed to storms both in summer and winter it would be difficult to mention" (Fitzroy, Voyages of "Adventure" and "Beagle," ii. 228). The fragments of many wrecks emphasize the dangers of navigation, which are increased by the absence of beacons, the only lighthouse being the one maintained by the Board of Trade on Cape Pembroke near the principal settle ment.
Of aboriginal human inhabitants there is no trace in the Falk lands, and the land fauna is very scanty. A small wolf or dog, the loup-renard of de Bougainville, is extinct, the last having been seen about 1875 on the West Falkland. Some herds of cattle and horses ran wild until recently; but these were, of course, intro duced, the first having been brought by de Bougainville. Horses and cattle have declined in numbers, being profitably replaced by sheep of which there were over 600,000 in 1926. Except for about 8o,000 acres, all available land is used for sheep-farming, which started in East Falkland in 1835. Land-birds are few in kind, and are mostly migrants from South America. They include, however, the snipe and military starling, which on account of its scarlet breast is locally known as the robin. Sea-birds are abundant, and, probably from the islands having been compara tively lately peopled, they are singularly tame. Gulls and am phibious birds abound in large variety; three kinds of penguin have their rookeries and breed here, migrating yearly for some months to the South American mainland. Stray specimens of the great king penguin have been observed, and there are also molly mauks (a kind of albatross), black-crested grebe, Cape pigeons and many carrion birds. Kelp and upland geese abound, the latter being edible ; and their shooting affords some sport.
The Falkland islands form essentially a part of Patagonia, with which they are connected by an elevated submarine plateau, and their flora is much the same as that of Antarctic South America. The trees which form dense forest and scrub in southern Patagonia and in Fuegia are absent, owing to the strong gales and salt-spray, and attempts at planting trees have not met with great success. The greater part of the "camp" (the open country) is formed of peat, which in some places is of great age and depth, and at the bottom of the bed very dense and bituminous. The peat is dif ferent in character from that of northern Europe : the lower plants enter but little into its composition, and it is formed almost en tirely of the roots and stems of Empetrum rubrum, a variety of the common crowberry of the Scottish hills with red berries, called by the Falklanders the "diddle-dee" berry; of Myrtus num malaria, a little creeping myrtle whose leaves are used by the shep herds as a substitute for tea ; and of sedges and sedge-like plants, such as Astelia purnila, Gaisnardia australis and Bostkovia grandiflora. Peat is largely used as fuel, coal being obtained only at a high price.
Two vegetable products, the "balsam bog" (Azorella caespitosa) and the "tussock grass" (Poa flabettata) nave been omens of curiosity and interest ever since the first accounts of the islands were given. The first is a huge mass of a bright green colour, liv ing to a great age, and when dead becoming of a grey and stony appearance. When cut open, it displays an infinity of tiny leaf buds and stems, and at intervals there exudes from it an aromatic resin. The "tussock grass" is a wonderful and most valuable natural production, which, owing to the introduction of stock, has become extinct in the two main islands, but still flourishes elsewhere in the group. It is a reed-like grass, which grows in dense tufts from 6 to io ft. high from stool-like root-crowns. It forms excellent fodder for cattle, and is regularly gathered for that purpose.
The population was estimated at 2,427 in 1933. The large majority of the inhabitants live in the East island, and the pre dominating element is Scottish—Scottish shepherds having super seded the South American Gauchos. In 1867 there were no set tlers on the West island, and the government issued a proclamation offering leases of grazing stations on very moderate terms. In 1868 all the available land was occupied. These lands are fairly healthy, the principal drawback being the virulent form assumed by simple epidemic maladies. The occupation of the inhabitants is almost entirely pastoral, and the principal industry is sheep farming. Wool forms by far the largest export, and tallow, hides, bones and frozen mutton are also exported. Trade is carried on almost entirely with the United Kingdom ; the value of exports in 1926 was nearly £240,000, most of which was in wool, and of imports nearly f i 8o,000. The Falkland Islands Company, having its headquarters at Stanley and an important station in the camp at Darwin, carries on an extensive business in sheep-farming and the dependent industries, and in the general import trade. The development of this undertaking necessitated the establishment of stores and workshops at Stanley, and ships can be repaired and provided in every way ; a matter of importance in such stormy seas. A former trade in oil and sealskin has decayed, owing to the smaller number of whales and seals remaining about the islands and the headquarters of the whaling industry has been moved to South Georgia. Communications are maintained on horseback and by water, and there are no roads except at Stanley. Mail leaves for England monthly, passage being about four weeks.
The Falkland Islands were first seen by Davis in the year and Sir Richard Hawkins sailed along their north shore in The claims of Amerigo Vespucci to a previous discovery are doubtful. In 1598 Sebald de Wert, a Dutchman, visited them, and called them the Sebald Islands, a name which they bear on some Dutch maps. Captain Strong sailed through between the two principal islands in 169o, landed upon one of them, and called the passage Falkland Sound, and from this the group afterwards took its English name. In 1764 the French explorer de Bougainville took possession of the islands on behalf of his country, and established a colony at Port Louis on Berkeley Sound. But in 1767 France ceded the islands to Spain, de Bougainville being employed as intermediary. Meanwhile in 1765 Commodore Byron had taken possession on the part of England on the ground of prior discovery, and had formed a settlement at Port Egmont on the small island of Saunders. The Spanish and English settlers remained in ignorance, real or assumed, of each other's presence until 1769-177o, when Byron's action was nearly the cause of a war between England and Spain, both countries having armed fleets to contest the barren sover eignty. In 1771, however, Spain yielded the islands to Great Britain by convention.
The Falkland islands are a crown colony, with a governor and executive and legislative councils. The colony is self-supporting, the revenue being largely derived from the drink duties, and there is no public debt. The Falklands are the seat of a colonial bishop. Education is compulsory. The government maintains schools and travelling teachers ; the Falkland Islands Company also maintains a school at Darwin. Stanley was for some years a naval station. but ceased to be so in 1904. It is now a wireless station.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-A. J. Pernety, Journal historique d'un Voyage Bibliography.-A. J. Pernety, Journal historique d'un Voyage fait aux Iles Malouines et 1764, 2 vol. (Berlin, 1760 ; Samuel Johnson, Thoughts on the late transactions respecting Falkland's Islands (1771) ; L. A. de Bougainville, Voyage autour du Monde (1771, new ed., 1924, Eng. trans. by J. R. Forster, 1772) ; T. Falkner, Description of Patagonia and the Falkland Islands (Hereford, 1774) ; B. Penrose, Account of the last Expedition to Port Egmont in the Falkland's Islands ; P. Fitzroy, Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle 1826-1836 (1839) ; Charles Darwin, Journal of Researches during the Voyage of H. M. "Beagle" (1845, Everyman ed., 1906) ; W. Hodfield, Brazil, the River Plate, and the Falkland Islands (18S4) ; W. P. Snow, A Two Years' Cruise off Terra del Fuego, the Falkland Islands, Patagonia, and the River Plate, 2 vol. (1857) ; C. C. Abbott, "On the Seals of the Falkland Islands" in Zool. Soc., Proceedings (1868) ; S. C. W. Thomson, The Voyage of the "Challenger" (Prelim. Ace., 2 vol. 1877, Rep. 5 vol., 188o, etc.) ; Sir C. P. Lucas, A Historical Geography of the British Colonies, vol. 2, "The West Indies" (189o) ; B. Stechele, Die "Steinstrome" der Falklandinseln (Igo6), in M. Guenther, Munchener Geographische Studien, No. 20 (1896, etc.) ; T. G. Halle, On the Geological Structure and History of the Falkland Islands (Reprinted from the Bull Geol. Inst. Univ., Uppsala, 191I) ; C. Skottsberg, Botanische Ergebnisse der Schwedischen Expedition nach Patagonien and dem Feuerlande, 1907-09, iii. A botanical survey of the Falkland Islands, Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademieqs Hand lingar, Band. 5o, No. 3 (with bibl., Uppsala and Stockholm, 1913) ; C. E. P. Brooks, The climate and weather of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia in Air Ministry, Meteorological Office, Geophvsical Memoirs, No. 15, Appendices (1920) ; V. F. Boyson, The Falkland Islands (with a bibl., 1924) . See also Sloane Mss. (3295) and Colonial Reports (H.M.S.O. annual 1871, etc.) .