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
Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute was held in London, where the British delegation "formally rejected" the Argentine Ambassador's suggestion that the UK's occupation of the Islands was illegal. On 2 December 1980, Nicholas Ridley, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, stated in the House of Commons: "We have no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands... we have a perfectly valid title". The British government regards the right of the islanders to self-determination as "paramount" and rejects the idea of negotiations over sovereignty without the islanders' consent. Supporters of the British position argue: The Constitution of the Falkland Islands, which came