Galapagos Islands General Information

THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Official Name: Archipielago de Colón
The Galapagos archipelago is located in the Pacific Ocean, 960 kilometers from the continental Ecuador.

They were discovered in 1535 by Fray Tomás de Berlanga while he was traveling to Peru. Charles Darwin (biologist and naturalist) visited the islands in 1835; he studied the animals and plants on the islands, and published his most famous work: Origin of the Species.

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS MAP:

Click into the map to view each island in detail

Galapagos is part of the territory of Ecuador; is the twenty – second province, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is the capital located in San Cristobal Island.

The archipelago is formed by 19 large islands and 200 small islands and rocks, has a land area of about 5.000 square miles, the Galapagos Marine Reserve covers about 50.000 square miles.

The entire area is volcanic in origin and the main islands are the tips of vast submarine volcanoes, some now extinct but others, such as Fernandina and Isabela, among the most active volcanic areas on earth.

In 1978 the Islands were declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO; today the Islands are well protected by the National Park of Ecuador; the Charles Darwin Foundation is also dedicated to the conservation of the Galapagos ecosystems through the Charles Darwin Research Station.