Imperialism is dead; Long live imperialism!
I have to begin this post with a fair warning: if you´re not interested in history, politics, geography, etc., I would recommend skipping this post. No pretty pictures to see here.
We´ve been travelling quite a bit in Argentina. It´s a compelling country with an interesting history. It has had its fair share of ups and downs, to say the least. The focus of this post is the Falkland Islands and Argentina´s other dubious territorial claims.
The Brits among our readers will be more familiar with the Falkland Islands than others. The Falklands are an island group (2 main islands and many smaller islands) in the middle of the South Atlantic. Most people agree that there was no native population there before the Europeans discovered them. After the Europeans discovered them, they changed hands many times between the French, Spanish, British, among others. When Argentina gained independence from Spain, they thought the Falklands would come too, but frankly they weren´t too concerned about them. During the 1800s, the British steadily populated and colonized the islands. Today, the overwhelming majority of the population is of British (mainly Scottish) descent.
Well, things came to a head in 1982. The military government in Argentina was rapidly losing support due to the country coming apart. They needed a quick and easy solution. And they thought they had found it. Why not invade the Falklands, kick out the British, and claim the islands back for Argentina. The British had not been really paying attention to the Falklands for a while and had recently cut back their military in the South Atlantic as well, so the idea wasn´t actually too bad.
So, in 1982, the military regime sent in some poorly trained and poorly equipped conscripts to take back the islands. Well, good ol´ Maggie Thatcher in Britain wasn´t too popular at the time either and saw this unprovoked invasion as her chance to rally some support back home. So in went the well supplied and trained British and easily defeated the Argentineans within 3 months and sent them home. The British subsequently upped their military presence in the region to prevent this happening again.
So, the Argentineans lost, the Brits kept "their" islands and things are all sorted, right? Sort of. Except for the fact that the Argentinean government still likes to claim that "Las Malvinas son argentinas". In fact, they just passed a law last year mandating that in school children should learn about the struggle to regain Argentina´s "lost" South Atlantic territories (the Falklands as well as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).
In many Argentinean cities there are "Plaza Malvinas" where the war is remembered. One of the larger ones is in Buenos Aires, overlooked by a massive Argentinean flag and guarded by 2 soldiers around the clock.
Ironically, the memorial in BA is also overlooked by this tower, which happens to be the Torre de los Ingleses or Tower of the English. The patriotic government tried to rename it something more patriotic, but locals haven´t jumped on the bandwagon (sort of like "freedom fries").
In Tierra del Fuego, we were in Ushuaia, where the Plaza Malvinas has this fine poetry on display.
I won´t translate the whole thing, but it essentially says, we hate the pirates usuping our beloved land and the soldiers who died will not have died in vain as we´ll eventually kill and kick out the usurpers. Can you imagine this sort of language on display in other war memorials?
Ushuaia also is the capital of a province of Argentina known as "Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur" which is a pretty grand title considering Argentina only owns half of Tierra del Fuego (shared with Chile), has a dubious claim to Antarctica that means nothing and, oh, overlaps with the claims of Chile and the UK (this link has a good summary of Antarctic claims and two good images showing the various claims), and has no South Atlantic islands, as the Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands all belong to the UK. That´s like the UK calling itself the United Kingdom of Britain, Ireland, France and Antarctica. Well, it´s sort of true as the UK does rule Britain, part of Ireland, also has a dubious claim to Antarctica and used to rule part of France. But I don´t think that name really works.
As we´ve travelled around Argentina, I´ve been amused that every single map of Argentina has included the Falklands (Islas Malvinas in Spanish) on the map and made sure to mark them as Argentinean. But I think mapmakers in the country are forced to do that. The official map on the government website makes it clear who they think the Malvinas belong to. I just can´t believe a government can get away with continuing to claim something they don´t own. It just doesn´t make any sense to me. But apparently it makes perfect sense to Argentinean governments and the people.
The Falklands have been in the news recently, as the 25th anniversary of the war is being commemorated this month. The Argentinean government recently also rather stupidly gave up their rights to some money based on oil rights found offshore around the Falklands. They said that if they took the money as part of that deal it would only further the UK´s overall claims to the islands.
We´ve been travelling quite a bit in Argentina. It´s a compelling country with an interesting history. It has had its fair share of ups and downs, to say the least. The focus of this post is the Falkland Islands and Argentina´s other dubious territorial claims.
The Brits among our readers will be more familiar with the Falkland Islands than others. The Falklands are an island group (2 main islands and many smaller islands) in the middle of the South Atlantic. Most people agree that there was no native population there before the Europeans discovered them. After the Europeans discovered them, they changed hands many times between the French, Spanish, British, among others. When Argentina gained independence from Spain, they thought the Falklands would come too, but frankly they weren´t too concerned about them. During the 1800s, the British steadily populated and colonized the islands. Today, the overwhelming majority of the population is of British (mainly Scottish) descent.
Well, things came to a head in 1982. The military government in Argentina was rapidly losing support due to the country coming apart. They needed a quick and easy solution. And they thought they had found it. Why not invade the Falklands, kick out the British, and claim the islands back for Argentina. The British had not been really paying attention to the Falklands for a while and had recently cut back their military in the South Atlantic as well, so the idea wasn´t actually too bad.
So, in 1982, the military regime sent in some poorly trained and poorly equipped conscripts to take back the islands. Well, good ol´ Maggie Thatcher in Britain wasn´t too popular at the time either and saw this unprovoked invasion as her chance to rally some support back home. So in went the well supplied and trained British and easily defeated the Argentineans within 3 months and sent them home. The British subsequently upped their military presence in the region to prevent this happening again.
So, the Argentineans lost, the Brits kept "their" islands and things are all sorted, right? Sort of. Except for the fact that the Argentinean government still likes to claim that "Las Malvinas son argentinas". In fact, they just passed a law last year mandating that in school children should learn about the struggle to regain Argentina´s "lost" South Atlantic territories (the Falklands as well as South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands).
In many Argentinean cities there are "Plaza Malvinas" where the war is remembered. One of the larger ones is in Buenos Aires, overlooked by a massive Argentinean flag and guarded by 2 soldiers around the clock.
Ironically, the memorial in BA is also overlooked by this tower, which happens to be the Torre de los Ingleses or Tower of the English. The patriotic government tried to rename it something more patriotic, but locals haven´t jumped on the bandwagon (sort of like "freedom fries").
In Tierra del Fuego, we were in Ushuaia, where the Plaza Malvinas has this fine poetry on display.
I won´t translate the whole thing, but it essentially says, we hate the pirates usuping our beloved land and the soldiers who died will not have died in vain as we´ll eventually kill and kick out the usurpers. Can you imagine this sort of language on display in other war memorials?
Ushuaia also is the capital of a province of Argentina known as "Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur" which is a pretty grand title considering Argentina only owns half of Tierra del Fuego (shared with Chile), has a dubious claim to Antarctica that means nothing and, oh, overlaps with the claims of Chile and the UK (this link has a good summary of Antarctic claims and two good images showing the various claims), and has no South Atlantic islands, as the Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands all belong to the UK. That´s like the UK calling itself the United Kingdom of Britain, Ireland, France and Antarctica. Well, it´s sort of true as the UK does rule Britain, part of Ireland, also has a dubious claim to Antarctica and used to rule part of France. But I don´t think that name really works.
As we´ve travelled around Argentina, I´ve been amused that every single map of Argentina has included the Falklands (Islas Malvinas in Spanish) on the map and made sure to mark them as Argentinean. But I think mapmakers in the country are forced to do that. The official map on the government website makes it clear who they think the Malvinas belong to. I just can´t believe a government can get away with continuing to claim something they don´t own. It just doesn´t make any sense to me. But apparently it makes perfect sense to Argentinean governments and the people.
The Falklands have been in the news recently, as the 25th anniversary of the war is being commemorated this month. The Argentinean government recently also rather stupidly gave up their rights to some money based on oil rights found offshore around the Falklands. They said that if they took the money as part of that deal it would only further the UK´s overall claims to the islands.
posted by Kevin at 4/05/2007 11:25:00 PM
1 Comments:
Twenty-five years ago more than 900 persons died in the Falklands War and billions of dollars were spent by Britain and Argentina, with the result that the Falklands remained as British as ever. The big reason that the UK fought the war, and the main reason the Brits still garrison the place today, is that the Falklanders want to remain British. If the 2,379 inhabitants asked to become Argentines, Britain would quickly rid itself of this expensive albatross. So why don't the Argies just offer the Falklanders money? Argentina, with a population of 38.2 million, could give every Falklander a million American dollars at a cost of $63 per Argentinian. Not every Falklander would be persuaded by a million dollars, but I am sure an overwhelming majority would vote for unity with Argentina for that price. The obstacle is Argentine arrogance: they would find it too humiliating to buy what they regard as already theirs. There is also Falkland arrogance: when I made the above suggestion to the Penguin News they angrily asked if I would consent to be ruled by a foreign country for money. They don't seem to realize that British taxpayers won't garrison their islands forever and sooner or later they must make an arrangement with Argentina.
Post a Comment
<< Home