Falkland Islands Dependencies

Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement for administering the British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica from 1843 until 1985.

Background

The arrangements were first enacted by the British Letters Patent of 1843, and subsequently revised in 1876, 1892, 1908, 1917 and 1962. For reasons of practical convenience the Dependencies were governed by Britain through the Falkland Islands Government, constituting however a distinct entity that was not part of the Falkland Islands in political or financial respect.

The territorial scope of the Dependencies varied as particular territories were claimed, annexed, and commercially exploited over an extensive period of time starting with South Georgia in 1775. Responding to repeated inquiries by the Government of Norway in 1905-07, Britain confirmed that the areas in question (between 35° and 80° west longitude) were British based on discoveries, and issued the 1908 Letters Patent extending the Dependencies to incorporate the South Sandwich Islands and Antarctic mainland territory (Graham Land), with a permanent local administration in Grytviken, South Georgia established in 1909.Odd Gunnar Skagestad. Norsk Polar Politikk: Hovedtrekk og Utvikslingslinier, 1905-1974. Oslo: Dreyers Forlag, 1975Thorleif Tobias Thorleifsson. Master of Arts Thesis, Simon Fraser University,...
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