Galapa'gos

Galapa'gos (Span. Galápagos, from galápago, 'a tortoise'), a group of islands of volcanic formation, lying on the equator, about 600 miles W. of Ecuador, to which they belong. The archipelago derives its name from the enormous land tortoises formerly found there in great numbers; but the individual islands all possess names of English origin—probably bestowed by the buccaneers who made them a sort of headquarters during the 17th century. The group consists of seven principal islands, with about half-a-dozen of lesser size, and innumerable islets and rocks; the area is estimated at 2440 sq. m., of which Albemarle Island embraces over half. Rising to a height of nearly 5000 feet, and with a climate dry and somewhat tempered by the cool Peruvian current, the islands are covered with a dense vegetation on the southern side, which absorbs the moisture carried by the trade-wind; on the northern side they are barren and forbidding in aspect, the lower parts covered entirely with ashes and lava or with prickly scrub. Darwin puts the number of craters in the group at 2000; some appear to be not yet extinct. The Galapagos possess both a flora and fauna peculiar to themselves; over a hundred species of plants have been noted that are met with nowhere else, and the species of animals differ greatly even in the various islands. The archipelago was annexed by Ecuador in 1832, and attempts were made to colonise it, of which the only remaining result is the so-called 'wild cattle.' Charles Island was used as a penal settlement for some years, but it and Chatham Island are now occupied by agricultural colonists, the chief crop being sugar. Cotton, vegetables, and most cereals are also raised, and molasses, rum, hides, and Archil (q.v.) are exported. Pop. (1895) 400. See Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, and a paper by Captain Markham in Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. (1880).