MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Day, August 14th

Today, the 14th of August, the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly proudly marks Falklands Day and extends warm wishes to all Falkland Islanders and friends of the Falklands. This day marks the anniversary of the first recorded sighting of the then-uninhabited Islands by John Davis in 1592.

In the 433 years since that sighting the Falkland Islands have become home to our unique and diverse culture. This culture has grown as people from across the globe have visited, settled, and become Falkland Islanders. This facet of our history is steadfast as a thread throughout the centuries. First were the settlers who came to make a home, under harsh and challenging conditions. Then, in the 19th Century sailors from around the world would sometimes choose to remain in the Islands rather than continue the perilous passage around Cape Horn. Gauchos from South America travelled to the Islands to make a new life on the farms which are so tied to our culture. Later, Chileans and St Helenians coming to the Falklands throughout the latter half of the 20th Century. In more recent years new Falkland Islanders arrived from the Philippines, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and across the world. Today Falkland Islanders are a community enriched by people of 71 different nationalities.

Today, on Falklands Day, we reflect on our ties to these Islands which were sighted first over four centuries ago — Islands which provide our way of life in the rich bounties of the land and sea; the biodiversity of life which we take custodianship of, and share this home with; and the remote, and at times challenging, nature of our Islands and the great winds which make Falkland Islanders simultaneously independent, hardy, and community-minded, in equal measure.

Falklands Day will be marked with the raising of the Falklands flag at Victory Green in Stanley, as well as above the headquarters of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in London. His Majesty The King, Charles III, has also sent a message to the Falkland Islands to commemorate the occasion.

We are proud to see this occasion marked both in the Falklands and in the UK, bound by a freely chosen and enduring bond of friendship and cooperation which has grown only more fruitful and modern over the centuries.

Happy Falklands Day, Desire The Right.