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History of the Galapagos Islands

Ecuador Travel  Discovery by Men      The archipelago was first reported in 1535 by Tomas de Berlanga, then Bishop of Panama, whose ship drifted off course while sailing from Panama to Peru. He reported his discovery to his majesty Charles V of Spain, condemning the whole island group as godforsaken and inhospitable to man. He did however include descriptions of the flora and fauna, considered equally wretched by him and the first report of the giant Galapagos Tortoise reached the old world. Spanish conquistadores did therefore not bother for two centuries to colonize the islands an d left so luckily the animals to themselves. There exists also legends that indigenous people arrived at the islands in the times of the Inca empire. It is now well established that commerce took part among the various native cultures situated along the Pacific coasts by way of reed boats. It is thus thinkable of someone having landed on the islands as accidentally as the bishop did. As Thor Heyerdahl proved decades ago with his Kon Tiki adventure, long trips in reed boats were possible.

 

Pirates, whalers, sealers and first pioneers The islands attracted finally attention by English pirates who used them as hideouts between their raids on the Spanish fleet which transported the precious metals of their South American colonies to their homeland. Afterwards whalers and sealers used some islands as a safe haven and a source of fresh food and water. They harvested in particular the giant tortoises as those could stay alive for up to a year on boats and were therefore an excellent source of fresh meat. Water however was very scarce on the islands especially in the drier moments. That was the major hindrance of permanent settlements and first attempts of colonization of the islands failed.

Scientific Interests At the end of the18th century, the first scientific researchers started to visit the islands and then Charles Darwin arrived on the Beagle in 1835. So when Charles Darwin visited Galapagos and observed the unique variations between the species on the different islands, he was inspired at looking at natural history in a new way and came later up with his revolutionary theory of evolution. From then on the Galapagos stayed on in the eyes of the scientific community. Expeditions for collecting the unique specimens were run by private collectors like Rothschild in England and public institutions in Europe and United States. Giant Tortoises became thus even rarer in the wild but increased their populations in foreign countries. Harvest them all before they completely disappear was the scientific motto then. This attitude changed around the WW II and scientist came to the island to study the fauna and flora in situ. One influential researcher was the British ornithologist David Lack working with Darwin finches in regard of evolutionary biology. Later, with work continuing to the present, Peter and Rosemary Grant took up a new project, studying evolutionary changes in those same famous finches.

Ecuadorian claims In 1832 the newly founded Republic of Ecuador claimed the archipelago, a claim, which was disputed by Peru, which saw those islands as part of its old colonial holdings. A few settlers arrived on the islands and some islands were also used as a penal colony till 1959, when the last one of those was closed. Presently, Galapagos is politically a province of Ecuador with Puerto Baquerizo Moreno the provincial capital. Around 20.000 people live on four islands, Santa Cruz, Isabela, San Cristobal and Floreana, dedicating themselves to fishing, farming and tourism. The most populous town is Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz which is also the major tourist center with its offer of hotels and restaurants and host to the Charles Darwin Station.

Conservation and Tourism

With the exception of the 4 islands mentioned above, all the other islands are uninhabited and were declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1934 by the government and then finally Ecuador's first national park was created there in the year 1959. Charles Darwin Station was founded in 1964 as a non-governmental agency with the purpose of protecting and conserving the unique ecosystems of the land and below the sea. In 1980 UNESCO declared it a World Nature Heritage Site. In 1998, the ocean waters surrounding the islands were also declared a marine reserve and policies in protecting the marine life were put into effect. Organized tourism started in the 1960's with a few boats offering service to a few thousand tourists each year. In the last  years the number increased to 60.000 visitors each year and the pressure continues by the ever expanding tourism industry. Although restricted and run as ecological, make no mistake that tourism is detrimental to the wildlife of the isles.

Active South America The Galapagos Archipelago was discovered by accident in 1535, when Tomas de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama, drifted off course while sailing from Panama to Peru. The Bishop reported his discovery to King Charles V of Spain and included in his report a description of the giant galapago (tortoise), from which the islands received their name. It is possible that the Indian inhabitants of South America were aware of the islands' existence before 1535 but there is no record of this. In 1953, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyedahl discovered what he thought to be pre-Columbian pottery shards on the islands, but the evidence seems inconclusive. For more than three centuries after their discovery, the Galapagos were used as a base by a succession of buccaneers, sealers and whalers. The islands provided sheltered anchorage, firewood, water and an abundance of food in the form of giant Galapagos Tortoises which were caught by the thousands and stacked, alive, in ships holds. The tortoises could survive for a year or more and thus provided fresh meat for the sailors long after they had left the islands.
The first rough charts of the Galapagos Islands were made by buccaneers in the late 17th century, and scientific exploration began the late 18th century. The Galapagos' most famous visitor was Charles Darwin, who arrived in 1835, exactly 300 years after the Bishop of Panama. Darwin stayed for five weeks, making notes and wildlife collections that provided important evidence for his theory of evolution, which he was just then beginning to develop. Ecuador officially claimed the Galapagos Archipelago in 1832. For roughly one century thereafter, the islands were inhabited by a few settlers and were used as penal colonies, the last of which was closed in 1959. Some islands were declared wildlife sanctuaries in 1934, and the archipelago officially became a national park in 1959. Organized Galapagos tours began in the late 1960's and now an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people visit the islands each year.

 

History of Galapagos The Galapagos Islands are located just below the equator, 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador in South America. They are a group of nineteen volcanic islands and range in size and age. The oldest islands are over 4 million years old, while the youngest islands are still being formed today.

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