The Galapagos
Off the coast of Ecuador's mainland, lie the Galapagos Islands. They contain spectacular scenery seen nowhere else on earth. They were created by a series of volcanic eruptions and the islands are in fact the tops of volcanoes rising up from the seabed. The oldest are some four to five million years old.
Throughout history, they have been a favourite port of call for pirates, whalers and seal hunters. If you are lucky enough to visit the Galapagos Islands, you will see more sea lions than you could count.
Most of the first inhabitants of the archipelago were criminals and prostitutes who had been banished from the mainland from 1832, but perhaps the most famous visitor to the Galapagos was nineteenth century scientist Charles Darwin who arrived while undertaking a world voyage in 1845 on his ship The Beagle. He was amazed at the region’s ecological diversity, calling it “remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself; the greater number of its inhabitants, both vegetable and animal, being found nowhere else”. It was the unique characteristics of the fauna here that put Darwin on the trail of the theory of evolution.
The Galapagos are a unique region because they have never been connected to the mainland. Therefore all indigenous plants and animals must have reached the islands by air, or by swimming or floating on pieces of wood.
The ecology of the islands is extremely fragile. The climate is a combination of tropical elements because of their proximity to the equator and temperate influences from the cold Humboldt Current. The islands are very dry and tropical forest is only to be found on the slopes; the coasts are often like steppe or desert. In 1959, Ecuador declared the region a national park, however, there are permanent inhabitants there (mainly due to the tourist industry) with some 14,000 people living there.
Want to learn more?
Galapagos Islands
