Speaking of the world-famous "Empire of the Sun Never Sets", I believe that everyone's first reaction is the British Empire.
But in fact, Britain was not the first country to receive the title of Empire of the Rising Sun. Before the British Empire, Spain had already acquired the title of Empire of the Sun Never Sets.
So, why is the name of Britain's empire that never sets is now more popular? Why is it that when the sun never sets, everyone thinks of Britain instead of Spain for the first time?
The reason goes back to Britain's particularity as a colonial power.
After the first industrial revolution, Britain was fully developed, and the degree of industrial technology development was ahead of the world, far ahead of other countries to become the most developed country in Europe.
But Far from being satisfied with the status quo, Britain chose to continue its colonial expansion and look to other continents.
Through continuous colonial expansion, Britain accumulated original wealth and colonial area, becoming the largest country in the world with a colonial area.
At that time, Britain was an unquestionable world power, both economically and politically.
As an empire where the sun never sets, in almost every corner of the world, we are able to find British colonies. The Falklands are one of them.
When the word Falklands is mentioned, many people may feel strange.
However, when it comes to the Falklands War, I believe everyone has heard about it. It was a war between the British Empire and Argentina. In order to compete for the ownership of the Falklands, the two countries did not hesitate to use force to this end.
However, as a British colony, the British eventually returned Hong Kong to China. So why is it that for the Falklands, the British have always been "dead and dead"?
Old photos of Hong Kong
What is the difference between Falklands and Hong Kong? What kind of "charm" does the Falklands have that the British will defend even if they use force?
Malvinas Islands
The full name of the Falklands is the Malvinas Islands, which is generally referred to in the United Kingdom as the "Falkland Islands".
The Falklands consists mainly of two main islands and more than two hundred small islands, the main island is located east of the southern coast of Patagonia in South America, close to the Strait of Magellan and close to Argentina.
The coastline of the Falklands is tortuous and complex, and the terrain of the island is mainly hilly. On such a small archipelago is rich in countless seafood treasures, fishing has become one of the most important industries engaged in by local residents, and many local residents make a living from fishing.
Although the Falklands are small, the islands are extremely rich in products.
Whether it is in terms of seafood resources or important petroleum mineral resources, the Falklands are rich in products. This is also one of the important reasons why the Falklands have become a sought after area.
At the same time, the tourism resources of the Falklands are also excellent.
As a small island on the sea, it has beautiful scenery and a pleasant climate. The abundance of wildlife species adds a touch of distinctive colour to the local landscape.
Strolling around the Falklands, you will see a beautiful picture of people living in peace with nature.
In addition, what is more interesting to everyone is the importance of the geographical location of the Falklands.
As an important place in the South Atlantic, the geographical location of the Falklands has made many countries look at it. It can be said that mastering the Falklands is equivalent to occupying a place in the South Atlantic.
It was for some of the above reasons that the Falklands became an archipelago that the British Empire and Argentina were scrambling for.
So what exactly is the origin of the Falklands? How was it discovered?
How is the ownership of the most important Falklands determined?
Origin of the Falklands
From the above understanding, we can conclude that the importance of the Falklands is very important in the world. So when did this important island come into view? Who was the first discoverer of the Falklands?
There has been much disagreement over who the discoverer of the Falklands was, and eventually it was divided into two factions, the British and the Argentine.
In the eyes of the British, the Falklands were first discovered thanks to the British.
It is said that in 1592, the Englishman Davis discovered the Falklands by chance. In their view, the Falklands were discovered entirely for British reasons.
However, the Argentine side does not think so.
In the eyes of the Argentine side, the biggest contributor to the discovery of the Falklands was a mysterious Portuguese in 1590. It is precisely because of his spirit of exploration that the Falklands will enter the public's vision.
Although both sides are conclusive, there is not enough evidence to show who the real discoverer of the Falklands is, so the final result is that no one can convince anyone.
That's why the method of determining ownership of the Falklands based on the first discoverer didn't work.
From the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century, Britain actively carried out colonial expansion throughout the world.
After accumulating enough primitive wealth, the British Empire expanded enough colonies, found a huge dumping market, and became the famous "Empire of the Sun Never Sets".
The Falklands were one of britain's many colonies.
However, although the geographical location of the Falklands is important and the resource products are also very rich, the distance between the British and the Falklands is very far away and cannot be managed in time, so the colonial influence of the Falklands is still relatively weak.
Later, after several world wars, Britain was seriously injured, both economically and politically, and lost its original status as a world power.
At this time, Britain was no longer as good as before, and it no longer had the glory of the "empire where the sun never sets".
In order to maximize its own interests, Britain had to put down some of its previous "figures" and take the initiative to negotiate with its former colonies, hoping to replace war with cooperation and maximize the interests of both sides in a peaceful way.
On the Issue of the Falklands, the British also tried to use this method at the outset to agree on the ownership of the Falklands through friendly negotiations between the two sides.
However, this approach was not endorsed by Argentina.
In order to revitalize the local economic development of the Falklands, the United Kingdom has tried to find a truly suitable economic development mode for the Falklands according to local conditions.
That is, to use the rich local fishery resources to develop the seafood industry and fishing industry, which can greatly increase the economic income of the Falklands.
However, such an idea was opposed by Argentina.
They believed that such a British behavior was undoubtedly an authoritarian and monopolistic act in the Falklands. Therefore, Argentina has always been opposed to the actions of the British Empire.
In addition, the geographical location of the Falklands also plays a very important role in this.
The distance between the United Kingdom and the Falklands is much greater than the distance between Argentina and the Falklands, so geographically, Argentina has a great advantage in competing for ownership of the Falklands.
When the two sides disagree and have conflicts of interest, conflicts can easily arise.
When the contradiction intensifies to a certain extent, an inevitable war is bound to break out. Because of the different ways of thinking between Britain and Argentina, the Falklands War eventually broke out.
On April 2, 1982, the Falklands War, also known as the "South Atlantic War", officially broke out.
The fuse of this war was ignited by Argentina. At that time, there were constant conflicts in Argentina, and the Argentine government hoped to divert domestic contradictions by occupying the Falklands.
But no one could have imagined that this war would end so quickly.
War of the South Atlantic
In the two months from 2 April 1982 to 14 June 1982, Britain won the war and regained ownership of the Falklands.
In this war, unsurprisingly, Britain remained in a dominant position, winning back ownership of the Falklands in a very short time.
Although Argentina provoked the war, it ended in defeat.
However, for the UK, many people still have doubts. As a colony, why did the British return Hong Kong to China, but Tsushima has not let go?
What is the difference between the Falklands and Hong Kong that makes britain's attitude completely different? In fact, the reason is also very simple.
The Question of Hong Kong
In our Chinese hearts, the Opium War has always been an eternal sore spot.
In 1840, Britain launched the First Opium War against the mainland, which opened the modern history of the mainland, which was the beginning of the humiliation of the mainland and also reduced the mainland from an independent country to a semi-colonial feudal society.
The war, which ended in The Victory of Britain, taught us a bitter lesson and had a tremendous impact on the recent history of the continent.
After the defeat of the Opium War, the mainland was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanking. The Treaty of Nanking provided for many unequal clauses, one of which was the cession of Hong Kong Island to Britain.
This demand seems undoubtedly a very excessive demand in the eyes of our modern people, but at that time we had no choice but to choose to accept it.
After colonizing Hong Kong Island, the first thing the British did was to use Hong Kong as an important port for related commercial trade.
Although Hong Kong Island is relatively small in size, its geographical location is particularly important, and it is also suitable as a trading port.
By using Hong Kong as a trading port, Britain and other countries, especially Chinese mainland, have conducted many friendly commercial trades and gained great benefits from these trade exchanges.
While benefiting britain, Hong Kong's economic situation has also developed rapidly.
Later, as China's economy continued to develop, the Hong Kong issue gradually became a very major issue.
In 1982, China and Britain held friendly negotiations on the Hong Kong issue. The British side believes that only under British jurisdiction can Hong Kong continue to prosper as it does now.
However, china at this time is no longer the China that was slaughtered by others.
We have enough confidence and strength to say that even if Hong Kong returns to China, even without British jurisdiction, Hong Kong will continue to prosper as it is now, or even develop better.
Since the two sides have not been able to reach an agreement, the mainland and the United Kingdom can only continue negotiations on the Hong Kong issue in the coming days.
Over time, Hong Kong's economy continued to grow at a rapid pace, becoming not only one of the most economically prosperous regions in Asia, but also one of the most rapidly developing regions in the world.
At this time, the Hong Kong issue is no longer as simple as before, but also involves economic issues.
If the Hong Kong issue is not handled well, then the world economy will be greatly affected.
On 19 December 1984, China and the United Kingdom formally signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and Hong Kong was finally returned to China on 1 July 1997.
After more than a hundred years of British colonization, Hong Kong has finally returned to the embrace of the motherland and has returned to being a proud part of China.
After Hong Kong's return to the motherland, China and the United Kingdom decided to use the one country, two systems policy after negotiations. In any case, however, Hong Kong's sovereignty is unquestionably china's.
However, Britain has not stopped its multifaceted interference in Hong Kong.
British diplomats and rulers have repeatedly made influential remarks about Hong Kong's political, economic and cultural aspects, in an attempt to influence relevant public opinion to make some kind of bad guidance and thus break out of Hong Kong's problems.
But they overlooked one of the main problems, which was that China was no longer what it used to be, and that it was no longer the weak China.
We will no longer fear their threats, nor will we fear that someone will come and divide our homeland.
Today, we have enough strength and confidence to resist internal and external troubles, to maintain domestic peace, to resist foreign forces.
It is precisely because we now have enough self-confidence that we can have more right to speak and be independent in front of other countries.
In response to the Falklands issue, Britain was able to compete for ownership of the Falklands at all costs, even in the event of a war with Argentina.
In addition to the important geographical location of the Falklands, a big reason is that the British are confident enough to defeat Argentina.
Although Argentina is close to the Falklands, the national strength of Argentina and the United Kingdom is different.
If war broke out between the two sides, the party that received the greater economic losses must be Argentina, and it was precisely because of this that Britain was able to participate in the Falklands War without scruples.
However, under almost the same circumstances, the British did not launch a war on the Mainland's Hong Kong issue, and finally resolved the issue peacefully.
One of the important reasons is that the mainland's international status is getting higher and higher, and its international influence is also increasing.
The Argentine and British Falklands debate, and the Mainland and Britain's Hong Kong Island, although slightly different, but there are certain similarities.
However, the two problems were eventually solved in different ways. The essential reason for this is the difference in countries.
With a strong enough country as a backer, we can bravely say no when other countries propose unequal treaties, can we really raise our heads in front of other countries, and can we bravely stand up when the interests of the country and the people are harmed.