Troubled History of the Falkland Group of Islands.
These remote islands were first sighted by Europeans back as far as 1502 by Italians, then in 1520 by Magellan. The first British sighting here came in 1592, when Captain Davis sailed into the area, but it was 1690 before any landing was made, when Captain John Strong named Falkland Sound after Lord Falkland of the Admiralty. Through the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, Spain controlled the islands, but the French established a settlement at Port Louis in 1764.
Map of Falkland IslandsNow it was the turn of the British, who in 1766 set up a British Colony on Saunders Island at Port Egmont off West Falkland Island, now they tried to eject the French from Port Louis, but they had in turn handed over this area to the Spanish who renamed it Puerto Soledad.
Now in 1770, the British are forced to leave Port Egmont, but Spain had a change of heart in the following year allowing the British to return. Until the 19th. Century these Islands remained as the Spanish Colony of Islas Malvinas.
As noted earlier, Argentina gaining independence from Spain in 1816 claimed this off shore territory as legitimately belonging to them.