Talk:Falkland Islands

Recent deletion

@Roger 8 Roger re your recent deletion, I totally see your point but I'm curious what you think about the extant paragraph above that? Does the same logic not apply? Similar statements are a dime a dozen. SamWilson989 (talk) 00:01, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

IMO, yes, the now final paragraph should go, because it is ten a penny news. I think the whole sovereignty dispute subsection should be removed because it is dealt with in the history sub-section. The defence sub-section can then be made a section by itself. Doing that would tidy up the article by removing off-shoots into unnecessay sub-sections creating sprawl. More detail about the sovereignty dispute is covered in other articles. I think in this article we should stick with a simple overview of the main points of the dispute, dealt with in the history section. In my view, in this article and others, we should avoid any suggestion there are equal "claims" to the islands and that the UK sovereignty is in any doubt, or that Britain has a claim of equal validity to the Argentine claim. Whatever happened in the past, the FI are unquestionably under UK sovereignty. There is a claim to the islands by Argentina, but that does not change the sovereignty status, it is merely a claim by a country unable to face reality and move on. That does, I hope, explain my view that the sovereignty dispute can be kept in the history section. The consequences of the Argentine claim are dealt with in different sections, such as defence. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 08:52, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

I have deleted the paragraph. Let's see if anyone disagrees. SamWilson989 (talk) 09:58, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

I completely agree that the current Argentine president's words about the island are from fairy tale land, however so were Leopoldo Galtieri's. I think that the views of subsequent Argentine leaders is relevant, and perhaps belongs in the history section.

I agree that it doesn't belong in the Sovereignty dispute section due to lack of relevance (if every politician's comments were listed it would be endless). Chattenoir (talk) 12:29, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

It would be best if we only added major changes of position or policy. Slatersteven (talk) 12:32, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

Yes, I think this is a good rule of thumb. A politician reiterating a longstanding policy can remain on the article specific to the dispute. SamWilson989 (talk) 13:59, 29 April 2026 (UTC)

I find your comment to be highly editorial, and inappropriate for the talk page of an encyclopedia. Regardless of your opinion about the words coming from a sitting president, they are the words coming from a sitting president and can be discussed without making a value judgement. Comments like this inappropriately color the discussion on the Talk page. Mqhkk (talk) 20:30, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

You seem to be arguing explicitly for "taking sides." That is, you seem to be suggesting that this article and others be edited from the perspective that Argentina's claim is less "valid" or otherwise not "equal" to the UK's. Wikipedia does not have authority to make determinations about the validity of territorial claims. It is, as you say, a fact that the UK controls the territory in question, but whether that territory is occupied illegally is a matter of perspective. Mqhkk (talk) 20:39, 31 July 2026 (UTC)

"The Falklands" is plural

Shouldn't it be "The Falklands are an archipelago"? Marmartoo (talk) 09:32, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

No, read the sentence again. Slatersteven (talk) 09:50, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Collective noun#Metonymic merging of grammatical number CMD (talk) 10:01, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

This has been discussed at length before - see 23. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 10:06, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

I wonder if it comes up for other archipelago polities. CMD (talk) 10:12, 1 May 2026 (UTC)

Spanish translation in lede

Saw a hidden comment requesting discussing changes to lede on talk page first, so here:

I'd propose changing the current text of

The Falkland Islands (/ˈfɔː(l)klənd, ˈfɒlk-/; Spanish: Islas Malvinas [ˈislas malˈβinas]), commonly referred to as the Falklands, are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.

to

The Falkland Islands (/ˈfɔː(l)klənd, ˈfɒlk-/; Spanish: Islas Falkland or Islas Malvinas [ˈislas malˈβinas]), commonly referred to as the Falklands, are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf.

Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 20:06, 22 July 2026 (UTC)

This could be mentioned in the etymology section but its probably undue for the lead if this name isn't actually used by Spanish speakers. Traumnovelle (talk) 05:39, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

It's the name used by Spanish speakers in the Falklands (who make up around 5% of the population), and sometimes elsewhere (e.g. File:Stand Islas Falkland Uruguay.jpg). This source goes into more detail. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 09:40, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

This has been discussed on occassions over time and isn't straightforward. I think the rule is to add a foreign name or a foreign translation to the lead only if it is used by a significant number of English RSSs, a rule often not followed. Islas Malvinas is not commonly used in English sources. But, 'Malvinas' is often used in English sources, referring to the Argentine usage. And/But, 'the Malvinas' is in fact another English name for the islands that is used by some English sources, mainly academic/scientific. There is a geographical region of the surrounding ocean using in English the word 'Malvinas'. The Spanish translation of the name is Islas Falkland, as shown by the Chilean link. Islas Malvinas is an alternative name used by some Spanish speakers, such as most people in Argentina. That distinction is not easily inserted into the lead and so the difference is often not made clear. I think the current version should be tweaked but not to your version which IMO is no improvement.

Also, it was decided a while ago to say The Falkland Islands 'is' (not 'are') an archipelago, mainly because the term usually refers to the colony/BOT, which is just one entity. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 10:41, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

It appears you're right. How about this wording?

The Falkland Islands (/ˈfɔː(l)klənd, ˈfɒlk-/; Spanish: Islas Falkland), commonly referred to as the Falklands, are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. They are also known as Malvinas (Spanish: Islas Malvinas [ˈislas malˈβinas]), a term widely-used in Argentina but considered offensive in the Falkland Islands. The principal islands are about 300 mi (500 km) east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and 752 mi (1,210 km) from Cape Dubouzet at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at a latitude of about 52°S. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 11:22, 23 July 2026 (UTC)

I think it is fine as it is. If there's any change, IMO a/ put back 'is' which I will now do (see section immediately above), and b/ I would remove the Spanish term 'Islas Malvinas' and say 'sometimes called the Malvinas' (but that is open to debate so I will leave it alone). I don't think your proposed changes add anything of any value. BTW, the geographical place I mentioned that in English uses 'Malvinas' is the Malvinas Basin. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 08:04, 24 July 2026 (UTC)

Would be interesting to see thoughts from other users. I don't think the current version is fine largely because 1) the Spanish-language name that is actually recognized by the government of the Falklands (and which has reliable sources confirming its use) is not even mentioned and 2) as you mention, the English-language form of "Islas Malvinas" is sometimes used but this is not mentioned anywhere in the lede either. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 15:03, 24 July 2026 (UTC)

We do not take sides. Slatersteven (talk) 15:07, 24 July 2026 (UTC)

I don't think anyone here is suggesting "taking sides"- I trust all Wikipedia editors to be familiar with WP:NPOV. Can you elaborate on what you mean please? Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 18:12, 24 July 2026 (UTC)

We do not get to determine what the "right name" is. if RS say Islas Mavinas, so do we. Slatersteven (talk) 10:04, 25 July 2026 (UTC)

Nobody is suggesting removing "Islas Malvinas" from the lede. This discussion is about mentioning another commonly-used Spanish-language term, "Islas Falkland" (used by the Falklands government) in the lede too, not removing "Islas Malvinas". Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 16:26, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

But is that Spanish? I am unsure the Falklands government (which is not Spanish) is an RS for a Spanish name. Slatersteven (talk) 16:31, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

By the way, this suggested text "The Falkland Islands (/ˈfɔː(l)klənd, ˈfɒlk-/;[4] Spanish: Islas Falkland[5]), " does remove it. Slatersteven (talk) 16:33, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

There are plenty of Spanish-language sources which use "Islas Falkland" e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13. Worth noting that Spanish-language Wikipedia currently mentions that term in the lede.

I fully agree that the term "Islas Malvinas" should not be removed from the lede, and each of the two possible changes to the lede which I have mentioned continue to include that term too. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 02:32, 27 July 2026 (UTC)

I think the rule is that we do not mention a foreign language name used in foreign language sources. (This rule is frequently broken by people keen to play around with pronunciation script and diacritics. They justify it by saying the article topic has a connection with that foreign language, but so what?) What we do meantion though is alternative English language names significantly used in English language sources. Those alternative names must still be English language names. The paradox that confuses many people is that a foreign language name, if it is used to a significant extent in English sources, has become an English language word by its frequent use - it becomes a loanword derived from a foreign language (like countless other words in everyday English). If it has not been significantly used in English sources, it stays as a foreign language word, and we do not use it. My opinion in this case is that the term 'The Malvinas' or just 'Malvinas' is an alternative English language word used by a significant percentage of sources, so we should mention it as an alternative name at the start. 'Islas Malvinas' however, is not used as an alternative English name by English sources so we do not mention it in the lead sentence. If it is later used it should be used only in context as the name given by most Argentinians and many other Spanish speakers who also use the literal translation of 'Islas Falkland'. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 08:08, 27 July 2026 (UTC)

I'm not convinced there are enough English-language sources to justify the usage of any form of "Malvinas" as an English term in the lede if we are going just on English-language sources (aside from the factor of the territorial dispute). We usually mention two English-language names in the lede of articles if both are in widespread use in English (e.g. Derry also mentioning "Londonderry") but not if the official name is dominant in English (e.g. Aachen does not mention "Aix-la-Chapelle"). The main reason to include both names in the lede is the territorial dispute with Argentina having its own name, not use of "Malvinas" in English. Chessrat ^{(talk, contributions)} 19:00, 27 July 2026 (UTC)

This is not really needed. In the name "Falkland Islands" only "Falkland" is the actual given name, and "Islands" clarifies that we are talking about the islands and not about other stuff with that name (such as Falkland, North Carolina; see Falkland). This is somewhat usual in geographic stuff, such as "Manhattan Island", "Mount Rushmore", "Atlantic Ocean", "Niagara Falls", etc. We include "Malvinas" because there is a sovereignty dispute with a Spanish-speaking country involved here, and because "Falkland" and "Malvinas" are different names. If both sides used the same given name and the only difference was in the use of "Islands" or "Islas", it would be ignored, and we'd go with just "islands". "Islas Falkland" is not a translated name, it's just the same name. Cambalachero (talk) 14:09, 27 July 2026 (UTC)

Sources

References

Semi-protected edit request on 28 July 2026

Change the Spanish version of the article to https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islas_Malvinas Jose.floresv (talk) 10:49, 28 July 2026 (UTC)

 Not done: To ask for changes to the Spanish article, you will have to ask on es.wiki. CMD (talk) 13:29, 28 July 2026 (UTC)