Argentina and the U.K. fought a war over the islands<\/p>\n
The competing claims to the island date back hundreds of years, to a period when the British Empire stretched across the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The archipelago, which lies 8,000 miles away from the British Isles, was settled by the British in the mid-18th century. Britain withdrew amid a power struggle with Spain over control of the islands. When Argentina declared independence from Spain in 1816, it claimed sovereignty over the islands and established a small settlement there in the 1820s.<\/p>\n
Eventually, the British expelled Argentina from the islands in 1833 and established the Falklands as an official colony.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Argentina never gave up its claim to the islands, and in 1982, Argentina\u2019s military junta, led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri, launched an effort to recapture them.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n