Occupation of the Falkland Islands Six days later, on 20 June, British forces landed on the South Sandwich Islands and Southern Thule where 10 unarmed Argentines handed over their station. 649 Argentines, 255 Brits and 3 Falkland Islanders died during the war. The Argentine Administration officially continued to exist until 15 May 1985 when it was dissolved by President Raúl Alfonsín. Since then, Argentina has claimed the islands are part of Tierra del Fuego (then an Argentine National Territory) which became a fully-fledged province of Argentina in 1990. Occupation of the Falkland Islands The occupation of the Falkland Islands and of South Georgia and the
Falkland Islands In 1881, the Falkland Islands became financially independent of Britain. For more than a century, the Falkland Islands Company dominated the trade and employment of the archipelago; in addition, it owned most housing in Stanley, which greatly benefited from the wool trade with the UK. In the first half of the 20th century, the Falklands served an important role in Britain's territorial claims to subantarctic islands and a section of Antarctica. The Falklands governed these territories as the Falkland Islands Dependencies starting in 1908, and retained them until their dissolution in 1985. The Falklands also played a minor role in