About the Area - Geography

Dots in the middle of the ocean

Belonging to Ecuador, the Galapagos are a group of 19 volcanic islands, 47 islets and numerous rocks located on the equator (Latitude/Longitude 0º, 90º W), 960 km west of the South American coast.

Their official name, since 1892, is Archipiélago de Colón in remembrance of Columbus's discovery of America, 400 years earlier. The word "Galapagos" comes from the name given to the Giant Tortoises found there by the Bishop of Panama, Tomás de Berlanga, in 1535.

The 7,843 sq km they cover rose from the ocean floor during the Pliocene era and have never been connected by land to any mainland area. The largest island is Isabela at 4,855 sq km. The sea territory of the archipelago spans 45,056 sq km.

• Click here to see the Galapagos Islands Map

A few dates
Although the Inca are thought to have set foot on the islands as early as 1400, the Spanish recorded their "discovery" in 1535 and Ecuador claimed them in 1832. The English naturalist Charles Darwin visited the islands in 1835 and his subsequent studies of local wildlife contributed to his famous theory of natural selection and evolution.

• Know more about Darwin's theory of evolution from BBC

96.7% of the territory of the Galapagos became Ecuador's first national park in 1959, and the area was declared a World Heritage site in 1978. In 1984, the archipelago was added to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme. In the year 2000, WWF put the Galapagos on the list of Global 200 ecoregions, which are areas that are crucial to the conservation of global biodiversity.

• Know more about the History of the Galapagos from the Galapagos Conservation Trust website
  

Geology and biology make for an extraordinary place
In geological terms, the Galapagos are relatively young. Most of the islands are probably no more than five million years old, although those located to the west, which are the most volcanically active, may only be hundreds of thousands of years old and are still forming.

The fact that these islands are evolving, their isolation from the mainland, and the confluence of warm and cold waters have generated an impressive assortment of habitats and species. Nowhere else can adaptive radiation, speciation and natural selection be seen so clearly.

Here scientists can observe the effects of natural factors such as the tides, wind and weather on species, as well as record extraordinary evolutionary feats.

An ecosystem quartet
The archipelago consists of 4 distinct ecosystems that diversified over time mainly because of wind patterns and differences in elevation. The first is made up of arid lowlands and open forests of enormous cacti; the second of subtropical forests; the third, which is found at higher altitudes, is composed of moist, dense forests; and the fourth is represented in the treeless upland areas covered with ferns and grasses.

The terrain is volcanic throughout and mostly composed of uplifted marine lava flows, whilst the larger islands typically comprise one or more gently sloping shield volcanoes, culminating in craters.

• Know more about the Galapagos Islands Scrub ecoregion