Currently the Falkland Islands are a dependency of the United Kingdoms.  There were no human inhabitants on these islands in 1690 when it was first visited by Europeans. By 1776 there were settlements made by the French and English but soon after the French withdrew and gave their settlement to the Spanish. Not too long after the English then left, leaving the Spanish in control of the island until all their colonies in South America revolted some 30 years later. The United Kingdoms then reasserted their rights over the Falklands in 1833, with Stanley being established as the capital in 1843. Argentina still contests the UK’s colonization of the Falkland Islands, stating their right for possession as a former Spanish colony. They even conducted an armed invasion of the islands in 1982 but were eventually beaten back and evicted from the islands by British naval and armed forces.

Stanley

One of the most recognizable  building in Stanely is Christ Church Cathedral. Built in 1892, it is made of brick and like many buildings in Stanely it has a corrugated iron roof.  One the church grounds there are a four jaw bones from blue whales made into an arch. They were erected in 1933 as a gift to the community form the Falklands Islands Company to commemorate a century of British governance.  The blue whale bones originated from around the South Shetlands Islands in Antarctica. One a nice day this is my favorite place to sit and look out into the Stanley harbor

(Left) Cathedral and arch, (Right) Gobe Tavern

However, this trip I did not have much time to sightsee around Stanley. I spent the whole morning getting supplies for our work in South Georgia and Antarctica and meeting with colleagues who work on penguins in the Falklands Islands. They work for a non-profit, conservation group called Falkland Conservation (www.falklandsconservation.org) and have been helping us this year to collect feather samples from Gentoo penguins in the Falkland for stable isotope analyses.  I also met with Rebecka Brasso, who is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (www.uncw.edu/penguins). She is studying mercury contamination in penguins and was in Stanely waiting for a different tourship to take her to Antarctica.  It was a busy few hours on land, but we got all of our errands completed and then set sail for South Georgia….. the land of king penguins and fur seals! More about this next time!