a group of more than 100 islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, an overseas territory of the UK, about 300 miles (500 km) east of the Strait of Magellan; population 3,000 (estimated 2015); capital, Stanley (on East Falkland). They were occupied and colonized by Britain in 1832–33, following the expulsion of an Argentine garrison. Argentina has contested British sovereignty and continues to refer to the islands by their old Spanish name, the Malvinas. In 1982, an Argentine invasion led to the Falklands War, which ended in a successful British reoccupation.