Falkland Islands Proverbs (12)

“We were driven in among certain isles never before discovered by any known relation, lying fifty leagues or better from the shore East and Northerly from the Straits, in which place, unless it had pleased God of His wonderful mercy to have ceased the wind, we must of necessity have perished.”

The first recorded European account of sighting the Falkland Islands — a storm-driven detour during a doomed Pacific raiding voyage produced Europe's earliest documented encounter with the archipelago.

“If not quite destitute of wood, the islands would make a noble plantation. It bears good herbage, and a great variety of land and sea fowl.”

Recorded by the surgeon of Captain John Strong's ship during the first landing on the islands in 1690, this account gave England its earliest assessment of the Falklands' land and its promise for settlement.

“In February 1764, France began to make a settlement on the Iles Malouines.”

Bougainville's own account of founding Port Louis, the first permanent settlement in the Falkland Islands, records the moment France planted its flag on the previously uninhabited archipelago.

“One of the finest natural harbours in the world; all the Navy of England might ride here together very safely.”

Byron's praise for the anchorage at what became Port Egmont reflects the strategic and naval value Britain saw in the islands when it planted its own competing claim in 1765.

“You have landed unlawfully on British territory, and I order you to remove yourself and your troops forthwith.”

Governor Rex Hunt's formal protest to the commander of the invading Argentine force on 2 April 1982 remains the defining statement of the Falkland Islands' resistance at the start of the 1982 war.

“Hail Falklands Motherland! So wild and yet so free, hail nature's shining strand of pearls set in the sea.”

An Islander's own poetic tribute to the Falklands' wild beauty and the deep sense of belonging felt by those born and raised there.

“Just rejoice at that news and congratulate our forces and the Marines.”

Thatcher's spontaneous remark to reporters outside 10 Downing Street on the recapture of South Georgia became the defining sound bite of Britain's mood at the start of the Falklands War.

“A bleak and gloomy solitude, an island thrown aside from human use, stormy in winter, and barren in summer.”

Johnson's pamphlet argued the barren, contested islands were not worth a war with Spain, offering one of the earliest and most quoted literary verdicts on the Falklands' harsh terrain.

“The whole landscape, from the uniformity of the brown colour, has an air of extreme desolation.”

Darwin's diary entry from his 1833 visit aboard HMS Beagle captured the stark, treeless character of the islands' interior before large-scale sheep farming reshaped the land.

“The Falkland Islands are once more under the government desired by their inhabitants. God save the Queen.”

Major-General Jeremy Moore's telegram to London announcing the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982 is the message that formally ended the seventy-four-day Falklands War.

“The Falklands thing was a fight between two bald men over a comb.”

Borges' widely quoted verdict on the 1982 war wryly captured how disproportionate the conflict seemed against the size and barrenness of the territory both nations were fighting over.

Si quieren venir que vengan, les presentaremos batalla.

“If they want to come, let them come — we will meet them with battle.”

Galtieri's defiant declaration from the balcony of the Casa Rosada on the day of the invasion, 2 April 1982, rallied Argentine crowds behind the military junta's claim to the islands.