Fact 9: UK distorts history in an attempt to disregard past actions of its own

The Duke of Wellington was not the only British High-Level Official who had doubts over British titles over Malvinas. There are tons of documents in which different officials express their concern on their alleged “rights”.

On the contrary, Argentine government officials had never had any doubt that the Malvinas belong to Argentina and that fact is reflected in myriads of documents including maps.

British propagandists now accuse Argentina of not reflecting its sovereignty over the islands in official maps published in the XIX century. There is specially one map in question over which UK propaganda seeks to distort history and reality: the 1882 Latzina map. More than 130 years later British propaganda now argues that the color in which the islands are depicted is similar to the ones used for Chile and Uruguay.

This map depicts the islands as “Islas Malvinas” and hence part of Argentina.

The 1882 Latzina map was adopted at the request of the National Government and portrays different farming opportunities for immigrants. It depicts the regions apt for farming throughout Argentina’s whole territory and regions are sketched with different shades of color. The Malvinas are colored in the same pale beige used for the city Buenos Aires as both territories offered the same scarce farming opportunities. One can easily see that the color used for Argentina’s mainland territory also varies depending on the region farming opportunities.

Besides, if Malvinas were not depicted as part of Argentina’s territory, why does the map include details of all geographical features and accidents as it does with the rest of Argentina’s national territory? And why does the map do not include the geographical accidents and features of Uruguay and Chile?

These geographical accidents are not detailed in the case of Chile and Uruguay, though they are the same color as the one used for Malvinas and the city of Buenos Aires. Why not? Because these are neighboring countries.

The fact is that British propaganda is seeking to distort historical documents and facts with blatant lies in a desperate attempt to fool public opinion. The distortion about the 1882 Map is part of that propaganda campaign.

Argentina always included Malvinas in its official cartography as “Malvinas” and hence part of its national territory. To name but a few, in 1886, Argentina’s Geographical Institute published a map depicting Tierra del Fuego Governance which included Malvinas. In 1918, the islands are presented as “Islas Malvinas” and hence part of Argentina on a map issued by the Agricultural Ministry that depicted the whole Argentine territory in different shades and colors according to degree of agricultural development and availability of railroad networks.