Falkland Islands Dependencies

Falkland Islands Dependencies
British colony
1843–1982 Argentine Occupation: 1982 1982–1985
Flag Coat of arms
Motto "Desire the right"
Anthem "God Save the King/Queen"
Capital		Stanley
Languages		English
Government		Crown colony
Monarch
•	1843–1901	Victoria (first)
•	1952–1985	Elizabeth II (last)
Governor
•	1843–1848	Richard Moody (first)
•	1980–1985	Sir Rex Hunt (last)
Legislature		Legislative Council
History
•	Established	1843
•	Argentine invasion	2 April 1982
•	Liberation	14 June 1982
•	Dissolution	1985
Currency		Falkland Islands pound
Preceded by Succeeded by Falkland Islands Colony Falkland Islands South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands British Antarctic Territory

Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement for administering the British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica from 1843 until 1985.

The arrangements were first enacted by the British Letters patent of 1843, and subsequently revised in 1876, 1892, 1908, 1917 and 1962. For reasons of practical convenience the Dependencies were governed by Britain through the Falkland Islands Government, constituting however a distinct entity that was not part of the Falkland Islands in political or financial respect.

The territorial scope of the Dependencies varied as particular territories were claimed, annexed, and commercially exploited over an extensive period of time starting with South Georgia in 1775. Responding to repeated inquiries by the Government of Norway in 1905–07, Britain confirmed that the areas in question (between 35° and 80° west longitude) were British based on discoveries, and issued the 1908 Letters Patent extending the Dependencies to incorporate the South Sandwich Islands and Antarctic mainland territory (Graham Land), with a permanent local administration in Grytviken, South Georgia, established in 1909.

The territories constituting the Falkland Islands Dependencies in 1908 were listed by the Letters Patent as "the groups of islands known as South Georgia, the South Orkneys, the South Shetlands, and the Sandwich Islands, and the territory known as Graham's Land, situated in the South Atlantic Ocean to the south of the 50th parallel of south latitude, and lying between the 20th and the 80th degrees of west longitude". In 1917, the Letters Patent were modified, applying the "sector principle" used in the Arctic; the new scope of the Dependencies was extended to comprise "all islands and territories whatsoever between the 20th degree of west longitude and the 50th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 50th parallel of south latitude; and all islands and territories whatsoever between the 50th degree of west longitude and the 80th degree of west longitude which are situated south of the 58th parallel of south latitude", thus reaching the South Pole.

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