Falkland Islands (Fr. Malouines; Sp. Malxinas), a group in the S. Atlantic, belonging to Great Britain, and consisting of about 200 islands, 300 m. E. of the entrance to the strait of Magellan, between lat. 51° and 52° 45' S., and Ion. 57° and 62° W.; area, about 7,600 sq. m.; pop. in 1871, 812. All but two are very small. East Falkland is about 90 m. long, 40 m. broad, and 3,000 sq. m. in area; West Falkland, separated from the former by a channel from 2 1/2 to 18 m. wide, called Falkland sound, is 80 m. long, 25 m. broad, and about 2,300 sq. m. in area. The other principal islands are Great Swan, Saunders, Pebble, Keppel, Eagle, Weddell, and Lively. The coasts are very irregular, in some places rocky and precipitous, in others low. Bays and inlets are numerous, and East and West Falkland are nearly divided by several deep indentations. There are few rivers, the San Carlos, 30 m. long, which flows into the sea on the N. W. coast of East Falkland, being the largest. There are many fresh-water ponds and brooks. The surface is broken by ridges of bleak hills, the highest of which are in East Falkland, though the average elevation of West Falkland is the greater.

Mt. Usborne, one of the Wickham hills, in the E. island, is 2,300 ft. above the sea; the other summits are from 800 to 2,000 ft. high. The country south of the Wickham hills is a level plain. The whole aspect of the group is dreary and uninviting. The commonest geological formation is quartz, which in some places is seen covering the bottoms of the valleys, broken into sharp fragments, and disposed in level sheets or streams like rivers of stone. Sandstone and clay slate also occur. The soil of such portions as have been explored is mostly peat or sandy clay covered thinly with vegetable mould. The valleys of the streams are exceedingly rich. The climate is like that of England, but more equable. The temperature of summer ranges from 45° to 70° F., and that of winter from 30° to 50°; mean temperature of the year, 47°. Severe and destructive snow storms occasionally occur. There are no trees on the islands. The most important production is grass, which grows to a great length and possesses remarkably nutritious properties. Three or four kinds of bushes are found; the common garden vegetables of England thrive; barley and oats are cultivated, but wheat is raised with difficulty.

The only quadruped indigenous to the islands is the warrah or wolf fox, which is peculiar to this archipelago. Other animals have been left here by Europeans, and in East Falkland there are many thousand wild cattle sprung from stock thus introduced. Horses, sheep, wild hogs, rabbits, seals, and wild fowl are found, and many French and American vessels hunt the black whale off the W. coast of West Falkland. In 1871 the value of imports was £23,715,' of exports £24,692; the revenue was £6,940 (about half of which is a parliamentary grant), the expenditures £6,324. The fisheries and the guano deposits on West Falkland are considerable sources of wealth. A British colony called Stanley, at the head of Port William inlet on the N. E. coast of East Falkland, has an excellent harbor, and is the only settlement in the whole group. Since 1869 the Falkland islands have been the seat of an Anglican bishop. The main object of the British government in keeping up the establishment here is to afford ships a place of call for water and fresh provisions.

The total tonnage of vessels entered and cleared in 1871 was 59,979 tons.-The islands were discovered by John Davis, in August, 1592, and were visited a century later by Strong, who called the sound Falkland, and the islands afterward took the same name. The French planted a colony on Berkeley sound, East Falkland, in 1703, and the English established themselves at Port Egmont, West Falkland, about two years later. The French in 1767 ceded their settlement to the Spaniards, who drove away the English in 1770. They afterward restored Port Egmont to the British, and some time later the islands were abandoned by both parties. Buenos Ayres took possession of East Falkland in 1820, and founded a colony there in 1823, which in consequence of a dispute was destroyed in 1831 by a United States man-of-war. It was shortly after given up to the British.