History of the Islands
The Galapagos Islands are a group of 19 islands that sit on the equator, 970 kilometers west of Ecuador. The islands formed three to five million years ago from volcanic activity of the seabed. The name 'Galapagos' originates from the saddle-shaped shell of the Galapagos tortoise.
A 26-year old medical school dropout, Charles Darwin, traveled in the HMS Beagle in 1835 to the Galapagos Islands. His brief five week stay in the islands inspired him to develop the theory of evolution by natural selection. This theory has ignited the greatest revolution of all time in the way humankind views itself in relation to the world and God.
Over the centuries, vagrant seeds took root, sea birds that were blown off course stayed and nested, and reptiles that could go without food or water for long periods floated in on vegetation rafts bringing life to the barren islands. The most adaptable of these plants and animals survived and over the course of a few thousand years, evolved into species found nowhere else on earth. Today there are 600 plant species on the islands. One third of these are unique to the Galapagos Islands. There are also 22 species of reptiles, 400 species of fish and just less than 100 species of birds. Of the land-based animals, birds and reptiles, more than 80 per cent are endemic to the Galapagos Islands.
Because of the extreme isolation of the fauna over thousands of years and the lack of natural predators, the wildlife of the islands are fearless. Tamed boobies waddle among tourists and dozing Sea Lions hardly stir a whisker when tourists stand among them to take photos.
