History of the Falkland Islands Union condemned Britain's "act of international piracy" in establishing a colony in the Falkland Islands. Diplomatic relations between Britain and Argentina were broken but resumed in 1976. In October 1975, the British Government tasked Lord Shackleton (son of the Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton) with an economic survey of the Falkland Islands. The Argentine Government reacted furiously and refused permission for Lord Shackleton to travel via Argentina. Later the ship transporting Shackleton to the islands, the RRS "Shackleton", was fired upon by the Argentine destroyer ARA "Almirante Storni". In 1976, after a military "junta" took control of the country, Argentina
Occupation of the Falkland Islands Occupation of the Falkland Islands The occupation of the Falkland Islands and of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ( "Military Administration of the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands") was the short-lived Argentine administration of a group of islands in the South Atlantic whose sovereignty has long been disputed. Until their invasion on 2 April 1982 by the Argentine military junta, they had been governed by the United Kingdom since it re-established control over them in 1833. The invasion and subsequent occupation signalled the start of the Falklands War, which resulted in the islands returning to British