A Story of Two Isles - the Falklands - part 5 - british expansionism before the war

This is the 5th part of a very interesting story, check out the previous parts to understand what it´s about:
Part 1: https://steemit.com/history/@wolfenlord/a-story-of-two-isles
Part 2: https://steemit.com/history/@wolfenlord/a-story-of-two-isles-part-2
Part 3: https://steemit.com/history/@wolfenlord/a-story-of-two-isles-the-falklands-part-3
Part 4: https://steemit.com/history/@wolfenlord/a-story-of-two-isles-the-falklands-part-4-the-rebellion

• "Rivero, I am counting about 200 british soldiers! I think I can kill about one, two, three, what was the number that followed three?"
• "I don´t know, but don´t leave me alone, we´ll deal with this like a band of brothers."
• "Okay! We´ll be right back, we´ll run to the storehouse real quick to buy some smokes!"

...And that is how Rivero was captured by the british instead of going down in a blaze of glory. :P

From that moment and up until 1853 the economic and millitary development of the isles progressed without incident for the english, and we won´t go over each small thing, but I´ll dedicate the following parragraph to highlight a few: In 1939 a british merchant, G.T. Whittington decided to put all the money on the isles and founded the "Falkland Islands Commercial Fishery and Agricultural Association". He pressured the british crown for exploitation permits on the islands. In 1840, before the british government could pronounce on the matter, he sailed to the isles with two ships that carried settlers and materials. In 1843 another dock was built, this one better equip to handle big ships, with the idea that it should serve as a base for british warships to help defend the isles. In 1846 the ship service and repair business going so well, that more than 700 ships had been already serviced on the new port. Samuel Lafone, a british trader who operated from Montevideo, was granted exclusive hunting rights over most of the wildlife and stock and during the next years he drove them to extinction. That meant a tough blow for the island population, because Port Stanley couldn´t continue restocking its food on its own means and started depending on this sole provider, also having to import other foods regularly.
Do you remember Luis Vernet, the former argentine governor of the isles and landlord of a great number of terrains in the isles, that had developed the isles economy investing from his own family capital during the time prior to the english invasion? Well, he travelled to london in 1852 to pressure on his demand for compensation for his losses. After many years of insisting, he was credited with 28.000 pound sterling, which didn´t even cover his initial investment. Depressed, he retired to his estate in Argentina and became one of the first Mayors in the San Isidro neighbourhood(a place where most argentinian aristocracy resided), and died some years later in shame.

In 1867, the colonization of the "Isla Gran Malvina"(West falkland) had commenced, so the last argentinian gauchos were replaced by scottish settlers. In 1884 a new argentinian protest was made and they asked to treat the matter on an international court, and the british response was a resounding negative. On december 15th 1884, the argentinean National Geographic Millitary Institute published a map of the Argentine Republic that included the Malvinas(Falklands) as part of their territory. That enraged the british and they asked energically for it to be taken out of circulation. Because argentinians did not comply, on july 21st of 1908 the british crown issued a threat letter, i mean a patent letter that unilaterally annexed Georgian Islands, Orcadas Islands, Shettland Islands, Sandwitch islands and Graham´s land to the Falkland´s colony. In case you didn´t realize, that are all the islands in the southern cone, and having ran out of islands to annex, in that document also they annexed the whole argentinian Tierra del Fuego province(in the mainland), part of the Santa Cruz province(also in the mainland) and which had nothing to do with the Falklands themselves. Its as preposterous as if Englad annexed France! Oh, they did during the Seven Year War? Well, in that document they didn´t settle for just that. They also decided to annoy the Republic of Chile and annexed part of their territory as well: the island of Chiloe and the Magallanes territory, proving that british ministers inspired the Monteczuma personality in the Sid Meier´s Civilization pc game :P . Luckily, an extremely pacifist government(internationally) was in power during that time in Argentina, and it didn´t care about the threats and insolence.

In 1910, Argentina was already about 100 years old, and in a context of great economic prosperity and because of the increasing influence it had acquired, other countries started emmiting formal documents doubting british sovereingty ofer the Falklands. Finally, in august 1936, the british ambassador in Buenos Aires received a confidential document in which Anthony Eden, british minister of foreign relations said that the main pressure point for future argentinian claims about the isles is that argentina had not enough millitary power to enforce their claims.

The next part of the story summarizes the most violent and convoluted phase of the islands. Stay on this channel!