The Spanish name for the archipelago,
Islas Malvinas, derives from the French
Îles Malouines—the name given the islands by
French explorer
Louis-Antoine de Bougainville in 1764.
[10] Bougainville, who founded the islands' first settlement, named the area after the port of
Saint-Malo (the point of departure for his ships and colonists).
[11] The port, located in the
Brittany region of western France, was in turn named after
St. Malo (or Maclou), the Christian
evangelist who founded the city.
[12]