The Falkland Islands are situated in the South Atlantic Ocean approximately 300 miles off the coast of Argentina and are one of the British Overseas Territories, self-governing dependencies of the United Kingdom.
Publications from the Falkland Islands are received into the collections either by purchase or donation. They are not liable for Legal Deposit. The Library also selects Falkland Islands websites for the UK Web Archive.
Published material from the Falkland Islands is acquired through either purchase or donation. In addition the collections include many works relating to the Falkland Islands published elsewhere; these can be located in Explore the British Library. The Library’s collections are particularly strong in official publications, newspapers, maps, and stamps, as well as book-length studies. Subject-wise items range from law and politics to natural history (even before Charles Darwin visited the Falkland Islands in 1833 on The Beagle, the islands had been noted for their wildlife).
Highlights include early charts, such as A Chart of Hawkins’s Maidenland, discovered by Sir Richard Hawkins in 1574, and Falkland Sound [London, 1720?] British Library shelfmark: Map Collections 454.i.3.(48b.), and Carte du Détroit de Magellan et des Isles Malouines ... Par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy (1756), Shelfmark: Map Collections 566.h.6. In the Manuscripts collections the Sir Woodbine Parish papers include manuscripts relating to the Falklands in the nineteenth century. The Library’s Sound Archive has a number of recordings relating to the Falklands War of 1982 including Margaret Thatcher’s speech to the House of Commons on the Argentine invasion.
The now extinct Falklands wolf appears in Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle (full title: Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. Journal and remarks. 1832-1836. vol. 3.. London: Henry Colburn, 1839; British Library shelfmark: 789.bb.5.). This enigmatic creature remains the subject of scientific enquiry. Its other name, the warrah, is also the title of Warrah: The Newsletter of Falklands Conservation (shelfmark: ZK.9.b.8941).
Britain and the Falkland Islands. London: HMSO, 1993. Shelfmark BS.81/243
Fordham, Angela. Falkland Islands. A Bibliography of 50 examples of printed maps bearing specific reference to the Falkland Islands. London: Map Collectors’ circle . Shelfmark Maps 160.e.3/11
Gustafson, Lowell S. The Sovereignty dispute over the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Shelfmark YC.1989.b.220
Laver, Margaret Patricia Henwood. An Annotated Bibliography of the Falkland Islands and the Falkland Islands Dependencies (as delimited on 3rd March, 1962) Cape Town: University of Cape Town Libraries, 1977. Shelfmark X.805/1245