History
The history of the leadership on the islands is closely related to the history of the Falkland Islands themselves. The first settlement on the islands was at Port St. Louis and was led by Louis Antoine de Bougainville, the Administrator of the French settlement which started in 1764 and ended three years later. The first leader of a British settlement was John McBride, Captain of HMS Jason, in 1766 at Port Egmont (the settlement being established a year earlier). The French settlement of Port St. Louis was transferred to the Spanish in 1767 and renamed Puerto Soledad, the first Spanish Military Administrator being Felipe Ruíz Puente. The British chose to withdraw from many overseas settlements in 1776 due to the pressure of the American War of Independence. The Spanish settlement ended in 1811 as a result of the Peninsular war.
In 1829 Luis Vernet was proclaimed Governor of Puerto Luis (the Falklands) by the United Provinces of South America. Objecting to this action, the United Kingdom sent a task force to re-establish British rule on the Falkland Islands in 1833. The Falklands were then settled, mainly by people from Wales and Scotland.
The first Governor of the Falklands was Richard Moody in 1843 who founded Port Stanley. There was then a British government on the islands until 1982 when the Falklands were invaded and occupied by Argentina for 74 days. During this time, the British Governor (Sir Rex Hunt) was expelled and Brigadier General Mario Menéndez was appointed 'Military Governor of the Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands' (Spanish: Gobernación Militar de las Islas Malvinas, Georgias del Sur y Sandwich del Sur) by the Argentine military junta.
Following the Argentine surrender at the end of the Falklands War, the British Governor returned and it was decided that the Government of the Falkland Islands should be modernised. In 1985 the Constitution of the Falklands came into force which greatly reduced the power of the Governor, making the office more accountable to the Executive Council of the Falkland Islands and creating in law a new post of Chief Executive, to which many powers of the Governor were delegated. In 2009 a new constitution was established which further defined the role and powers of the Governor.
Read more about this topic: Governor Of The Falkland Islands
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