Falkland Islands English when British forces removed 26 Argentinian soldiers from the islands and claimed the islands for the British. In 1845, the Capital city of Stanley, located on East Falkland, was established. Argentina also has a claim to the islands, and in 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands. The British moved to defend the British control of the Islands, with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher calling the Islanders "of British tradition and stock". In under three months, nearly a thousand people were killed, and over 2,000 were injured. British-Argentinian tension regarding claim to the Islands still exists, but as over 98% of
Military of the Falkland Islands recapturing the territory in June 1982, the UK invested heavily in the defence of the islands, the centrepiece of which was a new airfield at RAF Mount Pleasant, west of Stanley. The base was opened in 1985, and became fully operational in 1986. The Falkland Islands maintains its own part-time volunteer force, the Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF), previously known as the Falkland Islands Volunteer Corps. Although this unit existed in 1982 as a reinforcement for the Governor's detachment of Royal Marines, it did not play any part in the main conflict during the war of 1982, its members having