Galapagos Islands History
Galapagos Islands history begins around four million years ago when the volcanic islands were formed. Rising from the sea, they are the leveled off tips of ancient underwater volcanoes. The first known human arrival in Galapagos Islands history was in 1535, by Tomas de Berlanga. De Berlanga is credited with "discovering" the Galapagos Islands and giving them their name. The islands look like the backs of sea turtles floating in the ocean, and Spanish saddles are like a tortoise's shell, hence the name given this chain of islands. The Spanish explored the islands and the area, and in 1561 the first map of the Galapagos was drawn, appearing on well-known and widely used maps such as the Mercator from Holland, starting in 1569. The following year the Galapagos Islands show up on the Ortelius map, another well-known map of the world.The Enchanted Islands
Pirate & Whalers in Galapagos Islands HistoryEven before Darwin let the world know how Galapagos Islands history was special and unique, people knew there was something magical about the islands. The Galapagos Islands were dubbed the "Enchanted Islands" by 1589. From then up until the end of the 1600s, the English realized the potential of the Islands as an ideal base for ambushing Spanish galleons passing through. In other words, pirates took over the islands and used the area as a center of taking loot from the Spanish. It was also an ideal spot for stocking up on food and water, especially the giant tortoise, whose meat they needed to survive their long ocean voyages. Then in the latter half of the era of British naval domination, late eighteenth century through latter part of the nineteenth century, English whalers re-discovered the Islands. Unlike the Spanish, they weren't seeking the new world or the fountain of youth or even gold. They were following whales. Since whales migrate to the Galapagos Islands in order to breed, they led the whalers right to the chain of Enchanted Islands. Whalers also arrived from the U.S. and brought back large stores of whale oil, seal lion skins and the unlucky tortoises by the hundreds.
Incorporation and Colonization
From discovery by humnas in the sixteenth century for three hundred years, the Galapagos Islands were no-man's land, where anyone who dared could land and stay or hunt and fish. It was a dangerous prospect because is was mainly a base for pirate activities and rough characters like whalers. In 1832 Ecuador, the closest country on the mainland, claimed the rights to the islands. They incorporated and even had an official ceremony on one of the islands, Floreana on FEbruary 12, 1832. Floreana was named after the first president of Ecuador, Juan jose Flores.Colonizing the new addition to their Republic was not as easy. General Jose Villamil, the man who pushed for incorporation of the Galapagos Islands, attempted to start a little colony but failed. There were too many existing rough characters from the old pirate days and crime was too much for the colonists, who had wanted to form an asylum of peace.
Then, in 1835, Galapagos Islands history took a momentus turn and the world was changed forever.
Charles Darwin
in 1835, a boat named The Beagle landed on San Cristobal with a young scientist named Charles Darwin aboard. He studied the flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands and discovered Evolution and the diversity of species. The way we understand nature and species today started here on the Galapagos Islands with the brilliant young Darwin. Scientific study has continued even until today, and hundreds of scientists arrive each year to study and visit the Charles Darwin Center.Business and Trade in the Galapagos Islands
In 1869, it was discovered that a plant growing on the Galapagos Islands was valuable in the use of dyes. It was called orchilla lichen. This brought more than just a few men to the islands, hoping to exploit the commodity they had discovered. Jose Valdizan, resident of Guayaquil, tried to organize prison labor on plantations to harvest the plant. He even hoped to reform the prisoners in the process, but he failed. Not only did he fail, but he was murdered as well! Locals decided the islands curses and it was abandoned.With the opening of the Panama Canal the Galapagos Islands saw slightly more traffic in the area. They are strategically placed for European and North American trade routes. Also arriving, in 1929, were Doctor Friedrich Ritter and Dore Stranch. They intended to live under their special philosophy amongst the isolated paradise of the unspoiled Galapagos Islands. Ritter published often, and attracted followers as well as lunatics. It all ended in debauchery and murder, exactly what Wittmer and Dore were hoping to escape.
Modern Galapagos Islands History
The 1940s brought a penal colony, which turned into a concentration camp in 1950. Prisoners constructed the Wall of Tears for no apparent reason. Fortunately, the penal colony was shut down eight years later after a prisoner escaped. He had taken the weapon of a guard, stolen a yacht and sailed to the mainland.The following year, the Galapagos Islands became a National Park. In 1978 UNESCO made the Galapagos a National Heritage Site and helped support the conservation efforts of the Ecuadorian government.