The Falkland Islands is one of those places New Zealanders instantly connect with. It has the windswept beauty of our own Chatham Islands, and stunning landscapes set among huge skies and at the same latitude as our Auckland Islands. Amidsheep-covered terrain and abundant wildlife, the Falklands tell a tale of resilience echoing the spirit of early New Zealand settlers who ventured to these remote lands in pursuit of ‘white gold’: wool.
The Falklands have a precarious history from British and French discovery virtually at the same time the Napoleonic Wars drove France to reassert its interests in the southern hemisphere. Losing the war, it was forced to cede its colonial possession to Spain. British and Spanish settlements were built on each of the large islands virtually unknown to each other.
Spanish settlers, in their colonisation of Patagonia, decided to replicate the model that worked in South America: cattle and gauchos (cowboys). The cattle thrived and were introduced across all the islands.