 Galapagos
Islands
The Galapagos is a group of
volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean. Some volcanoes in the islands are
still active. They constitute a province of Ecuador and are protected as a
wildlife sanctuary, since 1935, where birds coexist with iguanas, sea lions
and several other animals. The principal islands are Isabela, San Cristóbal,
San Salvador, Santa María and Santa Cruz. The islands population is about
15,000. Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, on San Cristóbal, is the administrative
center. In 1978, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Isolation of the Galapagos in
the Pacific Ocean allowed the development of a peculiar ecosystem. Many
varieties of wildlife are not found anywhere else, including six species of
giant tortoises that give the islands their Spanish name. The observation of
the wildlife in Galapagos produced important inferences to the development
of the Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The English naturalist arrived
at the archipelago in the expedition of the Beagle, between 1831 and 1836.
The Galapagos Islands was
discovered in 1535, by the bishop of Panama Tomás de Berlanga, when its
ship drifted in a trip to Peru. He named the islands of "Las Encantadas".
In his writings, the bishop emphasized the great number of
giant tortoises
(galapagos in Spanish) there were in the islands.
Galapagos
attracts more than 60 thousand tourists
annually and is considered the second biggest wildlife marine
reserve of the world, only behind the Great Barrier Reef, in Australia.
The
Bartolome Island,
Galapagos.
Map of Galapagos► |
