In origin the Galapagos has no aboriginal inhabitants and was discovered in 1535 by the Bishop of Panama, Tomas de Berlanga, when his ship was carried there by the currents. For two centuries pirates used the islands as a staging post and during the 19th century whalers and fur sealers further exploited the islands.

Shortly after Ecuador annexed the Galapagos (1832) Captain Fitzroy on the HMS Beagle visited the Galapagos in 1835. On board was a man called Charles Darwin who studied the flora and fauna and noticed how closely the related species were on the different islands. After years of study and research he put forward the concept of the evolution theory that he wrote down in the book “The Origin of Species” (1859).

Officially named the Archipelago of Colon the Galapagos Island and a province of Ecuador, the Galapagos lies in the Pacific Ocean about 1000km (600 miles) from the South American coast and consists of 13 large island, 6 smaller ones and 107 islets and rocks with a total area of 7880 square kilometres (4897 sq. miles). Some of the volcanoes in the western part of the Galapagos are still active with eruptions, new lava fields forming and islands eroding and expanding.

The image above of the Galapagos Island is a picture acquired by Nasa on the 12th of March 2002 by the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiomoter (MODIUS), flying aboard NASA's Terra satellite.

Ecuador designated 97% of the land of the Galapagos as a National Park in 1959 to protect the islands. The designation of the Galapagos National Park was followed by the declaration of the first Natural World Heritage Site in 1978 and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1984. The Marine Resource Reserve was established in 1986 to protect the waters around the archipelago and in 1998 the Galapagos Marine Reserve was created by the Special Law for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Galapagos Province. The Galapagos Marine Resource Reserve is now the second largest marine reserve in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef National Park in Australia.

Over de years the Galapagos is suffering from some serious conservation problems. The early habitant of the archipelago brought in many domestic animals and plants which have spread widely over the islands of Galapagos.

The National Park and the Research station trying to eliminate these imported species for many years, but it is very difficult and cost a lot of money. A problem of this time is the illegal fisheries for sharks, lobsters and sea cucumbers.

One of the solutions is to patrol more often and with more man, but for that the National Park Marine Reserve needs funds urgently.