Pebble Island Settlement

Pebble Island Settlement (Spanish/Argentine name: Puerto Calderón[1]) is on Pebble Island in the northwest Falkland Islands, United Kingdom. It is the headquarters of the Pebble Island farm, and is located on the island's isthmus.

There is a shop (open three days a week), a one classroom school, an airstrip, a hotel and a golf course,

Most of the population is of British descent, although one Chilean family lives there.[2]

History

The settlement's Spanish name "Puerto Calderón" (meaning "port of the cauldron [or vat]") reflects the area's early history in sealing, and hunting penguins for oil.

The settlement was established in 1846 by an Englishman called John Henry Dean, whose family company still runs the island.

During the Falklands War, 300 Argentine personnel were stationed there as part of an airbase, but the base was effectively put out of action by a British Raid on 14-15 May 1982.

More recently, Pebble Island Settlement became one of the first in the Falkland Islands to use wind turbines to generate most of its electricity.[2] [3]

References

  1. ↑
  2. 1 2 Wigglesworth, Angela. (1992) Falkland People. Pub. Peter Owen. ISBN 0-7206-0850-3.
  3. ↑ http://www.bergey.com/Examples/Pebble.Is.html

Coordinates: 51°18′32″S 59°36′37″W / 51.30889°S 59.61028°W / -51.30889; -59.61028

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 1/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.