History
The Galapagos Islands were discovered officially in 1535 by Fray Tomas de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama, when his ship lost route while on his way from Panama to Peru. Berlanga wrote to his Spanish emperor Carlos V, describing giant tortoises and iguanas, and commenting on the extraordinary tameness of the birds.
There are stories about the Incas having visited the Galapagos almost a century before, but there’s little evidence of this.
From early on the Galapagos where also called the Enchanted Islands. The reason for this being that strong currents moved the ships overnight and at dawn and to the sailor’s bewilderment, the islands were no longer were they had “left” them the day before.
The first visitors of the islands were pirates and buccaneers, who used the Galapagos as a base for their raids on the Spanish galleons. Some people wonder if pirate treasures remain to be found on the islands.
As a source of fresh meat, the pirates hauled large numbers of giant tortoises into their vessels. The giant tortoises could survive for months with no food or water, so it made for a perfect food supply.
It was during these times that a barrel was set up in Floreana Island to act as a post office. Letters would be left in this barrel by passing seamen and later picked up by travellers en route to the letters’ destinations. The passage of time has taken a toll on the original barrel, which was replaced. The new barrel is still used today by many as a truly fascinating way to get their mail delivered by passing visitors. The place where the barrel is set has come to be known as Post Office Bay.
As the eighteenth century was coming to and end, whalers began to replace pirates as the predominant visitors of the Galapagos. Dozens of whaling ships arrived at the Galapagos every year. As pirates had done before, whalers too hunted tortoises and other animals for food. Some animals nearly became extinct because of this.
These first visitors of the Galapagos inadvertently introduced several animal species to the islands: goats, pigs, rats, dogs and others. To this day, there continue to be necessary concerted efforts to eradicate these species from some islands in order to restore the natural order.
Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick, visited the islands during these times. In 1854 Melville published a short story called Las Encantadas, which had the Galapagos as their setting.
The first resident of the Galapagos was Patrick Watkins, an Irishman stranded in Floreana in 1807. For some time he exchanged vegetables for rum with whalers, and in 1809 stole a boat with five captured sailors as slaves. He was the only one to make it to Guayaquil alive.
In 1813, David Porter, an American captain in command of the U.S.S. Essex was dispatched to the Galapagos to face the British whaling fleet there, which he nearly destroyed. It’s said that Porter relied on intelligence gathered at the Post Office Barrel to perform his task.
The Galapagos Islands were claimed by Ecuador in 1832, which first named them the “Archipielago del Ecuador”. Later, in 1892, Ecuador changed the name to "Archipielago de Colon", in remembrance of Columbus’s discovery of America 400 years earlier. Notwithstanding this official name, the Galapagos is the commonly used name both in Ecuador and worldwide.
Jose Villamil, a French citizen, established the first settlement in the Galapagos in 1833 where he tended fruits, vegetables, cattle, pigs and goats, which he traded with whalers.
The Galapagos were thus settled in a very limited way, and in a very late stage of history. Thus making them perhaps the last important chain of islands to be colonized. This in part explains why they have survived with comparatively so little damage.
A small colony developed in Floreana and soon became an ill-fated penal settlement. Santa Cruz did not see any settlements until well into the 20th century, when a group of Norwegians set themselves up there in 1926.
By mid 19th century whaling began to fade in the Galapagos as recently discovered petroleum came to replace sperm oil. The great era of pirates and whalers was drawing to an end.
A young naturalist by the name of Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos aboard the HMS Beagle in 1835. His work “The Voyage of the Beagle”, tells the story of his trip.
Darwin’s observations of the Galapagos prompted his landmark book “The Origin of the Species”. His work highlighted the Galapagos' fantastic traits and led to numerous scientific expeditions to the islands that to this day, remain as one of the most important natural laboratories on earth.
The 1930s brought us the mystifying story of a German baroness (who called herself “Empress of Galapagos”) and her lovers. The baroness and her lover mysteriously disappeared without a trace, while the other lover died in unclear circumstances that to this day generate varied speculation.
At the break of World War II the Government of Ecuador allowed the United States to operate an air base in Baltra Island, opposite Santa Cruz.
After the war the base was decommissioned, and the island returned to Ecuador. To this day many people believe that iguanas had disappeared from Baltra Island because the GIs used them as target practice. This story has been repeated so much that it’s very much a legend nowadays. However, there are also reports that determine the US GI’s actually had nothing to do with it. Iguanas have been successfully reintroduced to Baltra Island in the meantime.
In 1957, the Ecuadorian Government designated 97% of the Galapagos as a national park, leaving 3% for sensible use by the population which was already resident at the time. UNESCO designated the Galapagos as a World Heritage Site in 1978 and as a Biosphere Reserve in 1984.
In 1998, the Government of Ecuador passed very important legislation on behalf of Galapagos. As part of that, the Galapagos Marine Reserve was established in 2001.
Organized tourism started in the Galapagos in the late 60s and has been growing steadily since, with the 80s and 90s seeing the fastest growth. Currently in excess of 100,000 foreigners visit the Galapagos every year.
It’s thought that nature tourism is one of the economic activities that is most compatible with Galapagos conservation efforts.
There are four populated islands in the Galapagos: Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Isabella and Floreana. Santa Cruz has by far the largest population with about 18,000 inhabitants. Most of the tourist trade is channeled through Santa Cruz Island.