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Galapagos Islands
The Pacific archipelago that inspired the theory of evolution
Far out in the Pacific, straddling the equator off the coast of Ecuador, lies a cluster of volcanic islands unlike anywhere else on Earth. The Galapagos Islands are a living laboratory of evolution, where giant tortoises lumber across lava fields, marine iguanas dive for algae and finches found nowhere else hint at the slow workings of natural selection. It was here, in 1835, that a young Charles Darwin gathered the observations that would eventually overturn humanity's understanding of life itself.
The archipelago comprises some 18 main islands and many smaller islets, totalling about 7,880 square kilometres of land scattered across a far larger expanse of ocean. The islands are young and volcanic, built by a hotspot beneath the Pacific plate, and several remain highly active, and the highest point, Wolf Volcano on Isabela, rises to 1,707 metres. Three ocean currents converge here, mingling cold and warm waters to create a rich, strange marine environment where penguins live almost on the equator. The islands' isolation, more than 900 kilometres from the mainland, allowed life that drifted ashore to evolve in extraordinary directions.
Darwin's brief visit aboard HMS Beagle seeded the insight that species change over time, and the Galapagos have been central to evolutionary science ever since. Ecuador declared the islands a national park in 1959, and they became one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1978. Yet paradise is fragile: introduced species, fishing pressure and a swelling tide of tourism threaten the very wildlife that draws the world here. Conservationists wage constant campaigns to eradicate invasive rats and goats and to protect the tortoises and seabirds that make the islands a global symbol of natural wonder.