Malvinas Day (), officially Day of the Veterans and Fallen of the Malvinas War (''Día del Veterano y de los Caídos en la Guerra de las Malvinas''), is a

public holiday A public holiday, national holiday, or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year. Sovereign nations and territories observe holidays based on events of significance to their history, ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, observed each year on 2 April. The name refers to the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

, known in Spanish as the ''Islas Malvinas''.

Overview

The holiday is a tribute to

's soldiers killed in the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

, which began with the Argentine invasion of the islands on 2 April 1982. A total of 649 Argentines—633 military and 16 civilian—lost their lives during the 74-day occupation. Malvinas Day was first introduced on 22 November 2000, and replaced the "Day of Argentine Sovereignty over the Malvinas,

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

and South Atlantic Islands" (''Día de los Derechos Argentinos sobre las Islas Malvinas, Sandwich y del Atlántico Sur'') observed on 10 June, which had until then commemorated the appointment by Buenos Aires of

Luis Vernet Luis Vernet (born Louis Vernet; March 6, 1791 – January 17, 1871) was a merchant from Hamburg of Huguenot descent. Vernet established a settlement on East Falkland in 1828, after first seeking approval from both the British and Argentine autho ...

as governor of the islands in 1829. Malvinas Day is not observed in the Falklands, although a related holiday called

Liberation Day Liberation Day is a day, often a public holiday, that marks the liberation of a place, similar to an independence day. Liberation marks the date of either a revolution, as in Cuba, the fall of a dictatorship, as in Portugal, or the end of an oc ...

is celebrated on 14 June to mark the end of the war. There is also a celebratory day called

Falklands Day Falklands Day is the celebration of the first sighting of the Falkland Islands by John Davis (English explorer), John Davis in 1592, and is celebrated on 14 August. It was once seen as the national day of the Falklands, but has largely been re ...

on 14 August which celebrates the first recorded sighting (by an Englishman) of the Falkland Islands by John Davis in 1592.

References

{{Reflist April observances Public holidays in Argentina Falklands War 2000 establishments in Argentina Recurring events established in 2000 Autumn events in Argentina

Overview

See also

References