The Falkland Islands are located in the South Atlantic Ocean on a projection of the Patagonian continental shelf about 250 nautical miles (288 mi; 463 km) from the Patagonia coastline and slightly to the north of the southerly tip of Cape Horn and of its undersea extension, the Scotia Arc. In ancient geological time this shelf was part of Gondwana, which around 400 million years ago broke from what is now Africa and drifted westwards relative to Africa.
Covering an area of around 7,500 square kilometers in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Falkland Islands encompass some 778 islands. Despite the fact they're only 483 kilometers off the coast of Argentina and 12,000 kilometers from England the islands are a British Overseas Territory.
The Falkland Islands are a homogeneous society, with the majority of inhabitants descended from Scottish and Welsh immigrants who settled the territory in 1833. The 2006 census listed some Falklands residents as descendants of French, Gibraltarians and Scandinavians.