“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.

“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.