Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833) sent. An approach to Lieutenant Lowcay to retrieve his property was rebuffed but later he was requested to remove his property as the Government could not be responsible for it. Reassertion of British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (1833) In December 1832, two naval vessels were sent by the United Kingdom to re-assert British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (), after the United Provinces of the River Plate (part of which later became Argentina) ignored British diplomatic protests over the appointment of Luis Vernet as governor of the Falkland Islands and a dispute over fishing rights. In 1765, Captain John
Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute in the Falklands War. France was the first country to establish de facto control in the Falkland Islands, with the foundation of Port Saint Louis in East Falkland by French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville, in 1764. The French colony consisted of a small fort and some settlements with a population of around 250. The Islands were named after the Breton port of St. Malo as the "Îles Malouines", which remains the French name for the islands. In 1766, France agreed to leave the islands to Spain, with Spain reimbursing de Bougainville and the St. Malo Company for the cost