evidence: The South American state maintains that it inherited the islands, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, from the Spanish crown in the early 1800s, and that their close proximity to the Argentinian mainland is reason enough for its claim. Alasdair Pinkerton, associate professor in geopolitics at Royal Holloway, University of London, told Al Jazeera that Argentinian claims of sovereignty over the Falklands remain "deeply ingrained within Argentine politics and society, inculcated through the education system, street signage, banknotes and the Argentina constitution". [...] In a bid to push back against intensifying Argentinian claims over the territory, Falklanders went to the polls on March 10 and 11, 2013 to vote on the following question, "Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?"