Galápagos Islands
The islands, created by the southeastward movement of the Nazca plate over a geological hot spot (see plate tectonics), are largely desolate lava piles; eight of the volcanoes in the Galápagos have erupted at least once since 1800. The islands have little vegetation or cultivable soil except on the high volcanic mountains whose upper slopes receive heavy rains from the prevailing trade winds and are mantled by dense vegetation. The climate is modified by the cool Humboldt Current. The Galápagos are famous for their wildlife, although the gigantic (up to 500 lb/227 kg) land tortoises the islands are named for are now endangered. There also are land and sea iguanas and hosts of unusual birds, such as the flightless cormorant, which exists nowhere else, and the world's northernmost penguins. Shore lagoons teem with marine life.
The islands were discovered in 1535 by the Spaniard Tomás de Bertanga and originally known as the Encantadas. Early travelers were astonished by the tameness of the animals. In 1832 Ecuador claimed the Galápagos. Charles Darwin visited the islands (1835) during the voyage of the
During World War II the United States maintained an air base on the islands for the defense of the Panama Canal, and in 1967 a satellite tracking station was established. On the centennial (1959) of the publication of Darwin's
See C. Darwin,
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