The first settlement seems to be 1764 with a French naval base, settled by many French Canadien refugees of the Great Expulsion. 1765 Britain claims the islands and plans to settle on Saunders Island not knowing of the French base. 1766 the settlement happens and the French sell the base to Spain, that base is Port Louis.
It sorta goes on like this
1769: British and Spanish ships encounter one another whilst surveying the island. Each accuse the other of having no lawful reason for being in the islands.
1770: Falkland Crisis: Five Spanish ships arrive at Port Egmont with over 1400 troops under the command of General Madariaga. The British are forced to abandon Port Egmont and threaten war.
1776 after the islands are abandoned by England during the American revolution Spain makes them part of Rio de la Plata which is Argentina hence the modern claim.
1790: Nootka Convention. Britain conceded Spanish sovereignty over all Spain's traditional territories in the Americas. Whether or not the islands were included is disputed.
Goes back and forth with the newly formed United Provinces of South America (Argentina) and Britain. Then things get tense in the 1830s and by 1833 Britain re-secures them. Permanent settlement is essentially all British. The Arana-Southern Treaty establishes the status quo and hurts latter Argentine claims. By 1840 it is pretty indisputably British in population and governance with some remaining gauchos
The 1851 Falklands Census recorded 20 men as 'Gaucho' by profession, mostly of 'South American' nationality, with 8 of them having wives and young children
So yeah no indigenous population, by the time it had 100 or so people living most are british with some Spanish people who varied in nationality. Once native born people were born they would soundly be members of the crown colony. The French have as much a claim as Argentina honestly if we are going by pure "who settled there first"
The first settlement seems to be 1764 with a French naval base, settled by many French Canadien refugees of the Great Expulsion. 1765 Britain claims the islands and plans to settle on Saunders Island not knowing of the French base. 1766 the settlement happens and the French sell the base to Spain, that base is Port Louis.
It sorta goes on like this
1769: British and Spanish ships encounter one another whilst surveying the island. Each accuse the other of having no lawful reason for being in the islands.
1770: Falkland Crisis: Five Spanish ships arrive at Port Egmont with over 1400 troops under the command of General Madariaga. The British are forced to abandon Port Egmont and threaten war.
1776 after the islands are abandoned by England during the American revolution Spain makes them part of Rio de la Plata which is Argentina hence the modern claim.
1790: Nootka Convention. Britain conceded Spanish sovereignty over all Spain's traditional territories in the Americas. Whether or not the islands were included is disputed.
Goes back and forth with the newly formed United Provinces of South America (Argentina) and Britain. Then things get tense in the 1830s and by 1833 Britain re-secures them. Permanent settlement is essentially all British. The Arana-Southern Treaty establishes the status quo and hurts latter Argentine claims. By 1840 it is pretty indisputably British in population and governance with some remaining gauchos
So yeah no indigenous population, by the time it had 100 or so people living most are british with some Spanish people who varied in nationality. Once native born people were born they would soundly be members of the crown colony. The French have as much a claim as Argentina honestly if we are going by pure "who settled there first"