The Falkland Islands is an archipelago (meaning a cluster of smaller islands) in the South Atlantic Ocean, 300 miles (483 kilometres) east of Argentina.


The 700+ islands have a combined area of 4,700 square miles (12,000 square kilometers), with a population of approximately 4,500 people. The Islands economy is largely based on sheep farming, with an emphasis on high-quality wool exports. The current sheep population scattered throughout the land exceeds 500,000, which equates to roughly 111 sheep per person; per capita, that's 106 sheep per square mile (41.6 per square kilometer). Since the Islands are located north of Antarctica, sheep farming had to have been introduced at some point in history. Early settlers who were of British origin ...