West Falkland
West Falkland
Isla Gran Malvina ( Mount Adam | |
---|---|
Polity | Falkland Islands |
Largest settlement | Port Howard |
a. ^ All islands in the Falkland Islands. b. ^ All inhabited islands in the Falkland Islands. |
West Falkland (Spanish: Isla Gran Malvina) is the second largest of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic. It is a hilly island, separated from East Falkland by the Falkland Sound. Its area is 4,532 square kilometres (1,750 square miles), 37% of the total area of the islands.[2] Its coastline is 1,258.7 kilometres (782.1 miles) long.[2]
Population
The island has fewer than 200 people, scattered around the coastline. The largest settlement is
Because West Falkland is outside Stanley or RAF Mount Pleasant on East Falkland it is considered part of the "camp", a Falklander term for the area outside the main settlement.
Geography and wildlife
West Falkland is hillier on the side closest to
In the 19th century as today, indigenous land fauna was very scanty. A small wolf, the
The southernmost point of West Falkland is Cape Meredith, and the most south-westerly point is Calm Head. On the southerly side lie high cliffs with an abundance of seabirds. To the west are some white sandy beaches with clean water and rolling sand dunes with tall grass. Set just back from the top of the cliffs is a single wooden hut locally referred to as Uncle Tom's Cabin. The beaches are a habitat for elephant seals and are unpolluted save for the occasional piece of wreckage.
Geology
Most of the layers of West Falkland and its surrounding islands are slightly inclined from the horizontal. This inclination shows different types of rocks in different places. The quartzites of Port Stephens and Stanley are more resistant than the arenaceous sediments of the formation at Fox Bay. The Hornby Mountains, near Falkland Sound have experienced tectonic forces of uplift and folding which has inclined the quartzite beds of Stanley to the vertical.
In West Falkland there are several dykes that cut the rocks of the western islands, but these dykes, unlike the previous ones, are chemically more unstable and have been eroded. The only indications of their existence are the aligned linear depressions. In the margins of these depressions there is evidence of contact baking or hornfels formation adjacent to the once molten basalt dyke.
History
Early explorers reported the remains of canoes on West Falkland but it is unclear whether it was a one way trip, or indeed if the canoes were not swept in from Patagonia.
Captain John Strong of the Welfare made the first recorded landing on either of the main islands (West and East Falkland) on 29 January 1690 at Bold Cove on the other side of the headland from Port Howard. He said:
- "Wednesday this morning we weighed and stood unto an harbour on ye west side and there came to ane anchor and sent our boat on shoar for fresh water and did kill abundance of geese and ducks but as far as wood there is none."
Although Strong recorded a lack of wood in the area, driftwood frequently washes up on Falkland beaches. This may be accounted for by the sheltered nature of Bold Cove. Strong named Falkland Sound, which gave its name to all the islands.
While the first recorded landing on the main islands of the Falklands was on West Falkland, it was settled remarkably late. In 1867 there were no settlers on West Falkland. The government issued a proclamation offering leases of grazing stations on very moderate terms and in 1868 all the available land was occupied.[4]
Modern West Falkland is also home to two
In early 2007, the Falkland Islands Government awarded a contract to supply an east–west ferry to Workboat Services Ltd.[8] The service runs between Port Howard and New Haven.
Falklands War
West Falkland saw some activity during the
The most significant skirmish on West Falkland was perhaps the skirmish at Many Branch Point, near Port Howard.
References
- ^ "2016 Census Report". Policy and Economic Development Unit, Falkland Islands Government. 2017. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
- ^ a b Pichon, Hervé; Rolland, Nicolas; Orlova, Nadège; Lombardo, Stéphane (2002). "D2.1.1 Inventory Report". European Coastal Erosion database. European Commission. p. 122. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- ^ "2016 Census Report". Policy and Economic Development Unit, Falkland Islands Government. 2017. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018.
- ^ a b c d public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Falkland Islands". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 151–152. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ "Falklands.info Geography". web page. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "The Toponymy of the Falkland Islands as recorded on maps and in gazetteers (Para 14)". Permanent Committee on Geographic Names (Crown Copyright). 2006. Retrieved 5 March 2010.
- ^ "RAF Today" (PDF). [United Kingdom] Ministry of Defence. February 2004. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
- ^ "Workboat Services Ltd (Home page)". Retrieved 3 May 2010.