That's the fucking part that blows my mind. They were about to get it back for fucking free. But the Military Dictatorship had to Military it up and then not only got their asses handed to them, but also gave Thatcher and Reaganomics the boost of a lifetime.

Every single time I see anything argentinian named "LAS MALVINAS ARGENTINAS XYZ" it feels so fucking pathetic. They put it on a (now worthless) 50 peso banknote.

It was never really about ownership of the islands as such. The real prize is for Argentine politicians to be able to forment nationalism against an external enemy, to distract and enthuse the voters.

It’s hilarious how one sided that is. Kim Jong Un style numbers.

And it makes complete sense. Falkland islands isn’t a colony. It was uninhabited before the british got there. It’s literally a freezing windy collection of hills in the middle of nowhere a few dozen british shepherds decided to populate and now rely on mainland UK for loads of stuff. So there’s no reason to say no.

1,513 voted yes to stay part of the UK overseas territories. 3 people voted no.

Even those no voters were not saying yes to Argentinian rule.

But not the Falklands, when the British arrived the population consisted of Penguins and nothing else.

Nah. For most of human history there were not referendums to "let them choose". They just annexed the place.

The referendums is a relatively modern "invention".

How is defending against an invasion not legitimate?

Sure, I entirely agree on principle. But that's my question, who are these people? According to Wikipedia, there are no such people:

Although Fuegians from Patagonia may have visited the Falkland Islands in prehistoric times, the islands were uninhabited when Europeans first explored them.

So I suppose I have my answer overall. The people living there are broadly the descendents of the French, Spanich and English who settled there in the late 18th century. The French ceded the settlement to Spain a year after they started, so even just scratching the surface of the situation it looks like it's been a mess for 250 years.

But in any case, the people living there, now, clearly want to remain a UK territory.

The modern population of the island are the natives, kinda like how Icelands population is completely native to the island. Not to say people didn't fuck around on the island occasionally but there's basically no evidence of prehistoric settlement of the Falklands.

Greenland wants to be part of the UK 🤔

Malvinas not Maldives (they're half a world apart), and there have been briefly Spanish/Argentinian populations on the islands between 1774 and 1820 but none since then. The majority of whom were one of a) a military garrison b) convicts c) guards of convicts. Very small numbers of non military settlers during that period

So broadly yes, everyone who has been there since the early 1800s is aligned with the UK