History of the Galapagos-

• Last revision 11 Feb 1997 by W. M. White. This site is hosted by the Department of Geological Sciences at Cornell University. Constuction of this site was partially supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation.
• "dross, worthless, because it has not the power of raising a little grass, but only some thistles."
  • in 1535 by Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama
• on Ortelius's 1570 world map as "Insulae de los Galopegos", named for the saddleback giant tortoises
• galapagos became base of operations for Brit pirates to attack Spanish ship going between New Spain (Mx) and the Andes and Panama
• Fresh meat, in the form of the giant tortioses, was another valuable commodity to be had in the Galapagos. The giant tortoises were highly prized by mariners because they could be kept alive in the holds of ships for many months without food or water
• By 1790 pirates were being replaced by whalers.
• Like the pirates before them, whalers would hunt tortoises, turtles, birds, and occasionally land iguanas for food. The whalers, though, were much more numerous than the pirates had been and some races of tortoises quickly became extinct. As many as 200,000 tortoises may have been taken over the course of the 19th century. Also taken in great numbers were fur seals, whose thick, luxurious fur was highly prized. By the early 20th century they were nearly extinct (they have since greatly recovered).
• When anchored in James Bay, Porter released several goats to graze near the shore. However, after several days the goats disappeared into the interior and were not seen again. Porter had not intended to release the goats. But in subsequent years and centuries, many were deliberately released to provide a continuing source of meat to ships in the area. These goats would multiply, eventually reaching 100,000 on Santiago, and devestate the native flora of Santiago and several other islands and threating the native herbivores, such as the giant tortoise. Today, introduced species remain the single greatest threat to the Galapagos biota.
• "five and twenty heaps of cinder dumped here and there in an outside city lot"
  • Herman Melville, the great American novelist and author of Moby Dick
• In 1833, the Ecuadorian government granted a concession to Jose Villamil, a Frenchman who had left Louisiana when it was sold to the United States, to establish the first settlement in the Galapagos, on Floreana. Villamil raised fruits, vegetables, cattle, pigs, and goats and did a brisk business trading with whalers.
• By the time of Darwin's visit in 1935, tortoises were already disappearing from Floreana. He found two to three hundred people living on the island and that "the staple article of animal food is supplied by the tortoises. Their numbers have of course been greatly reduced in this island, but the people yet count on two days' hunting giving them food for the rest of the week. It is said that formerly single vessels have taken away as many as seven hundred, and that the ship's company of a frigate some years since brought down in one day two hundred tortoises to the beach." By 1846, well after Villamil's colony had been abandoned, Berthold Seeman, a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Pandora, reported there were no tortoises to be found on Floreana, but there were 2000 head of cattle. Wild dogs roamed the island, and they were later reported to attack visitors. The Santa Fe and Rabida tortoise races also became extinct in the nineteenth century.
• In June 1831, the H.M.S. Beagle set sail from England
• 22 year-old Charles Darwin. Darwin had begun his studies as a medical student, then became a divinity student at Cambridge. Neither field has excited him, and his father, a physician, considered him something of a disgrace.
• Darwin was particularly struck by the"differences between the inhabitants of the different islands":
  • "The distribution of tenants of this archipelago", he wrote, "would not be nearly so wonderful, if for instance, one island has a mocking-thrush and a second island some other quite distinct species... But it is the circumstance that several of the islands possess their own species of tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous plants, these species having the same general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder."
• The first "permanent" human inhabitant of the Galapagos was an Irishman by the name of Patrick Watkins, who was marooned on Floreana in 1807. He spent 8 years there, raising vegetables and selling them to visiting whaling ships before stealing a boat and sailing to the mainland.
• The Ecuadorian government continued to maintain prison colonies in the Galapagos until the middle of the twentieth century.
• One resource was expoited on Santiago, though: salt was mined from the salt lake near James Bay and used for salting fish and tortoise meat.
• a colony on the southeast coast of Isabela, which he called Villamil, and another, Santo Tomas, 20 km inland, high on the slopes of Sierra Negra. The latter was established to mine sulfur from the fumeroles in the area. Around Villamil, coral was mined and burned to produce lime. This was supplemented by fishing and cattle ranching on the moist windward slopes of Sierra Negra.
• European and American interest in the Galapagos was stimulated by the publication of William Beebe's book Galapagos: World's End in 1924. This book inspired the beginnings of the eco-tourism that today dominates the Galapagos economy.
• There was also a trickle of Europeans immigration to the Galapagos around this time.(1927)
  • Most managed to survive for a difficult year or two there.
  • Within a few years, most of these colonist left as well, but a few remained. A few years later, other Norwegians came to Santa Cruz, as well as a sprinkling of others from Europe, America, and Ecuador, all seeking a simpler life.

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This web page created by Jill A. Rowehl

Email the author at ig3@mit.edu

Last Edited on Monday, 04-Oct-2004