Jacko,
Fair enough - Sebald was definitely the first to definitively find the islands - rather than the Jason Islands, or one of the other smaller groups. It is true, however, that since Amerigo Vespucci's third trip Europeans have suspected that there were some islands there without knowing the precise detail. My broader point is that:
- title to the islands has been contested by at least four powers in the last 500 years;
- there was never an aboriginal people there;
- since 1833 the Falkland Islanders have become the people in who self-determination resides;
- that as the international law has changed post WW2, self-determination has become central to resolving the dispute;
ergo, Argentina is going nowhere on this as long as it cannot convince the Falklanders to become Argentines.
And I for one would - and regrettably at some point in the next 20 years may have to unless the Argentine body politic gets the message - fight for the Falkland Islanders' right to choose their own future.
I hope it doesn't come to a punch-up again; but I've an awful feeling that it will. Let's hope sanity on all sides prevails - as has been said, there's no reason that Argentina shouldn't do very well out of the oil, if indeed it is economically viable.
S41