1893 Perron map GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, PACIFIC OCEAN, ECUADOR (#89)

Description

Perron18_089
1893 Perron map GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, PACIFIC OCEAN, ECUADOR (#89)
Nice map titled
Archipel des Galapagos,
from wood engraving  with fine detail and clear impression, nice hand coloring. Overall size approx.  23.5 x 17 cm, image size approx. 11 x 10.5 cm. From
La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes
, 19 vol. (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.
Galapagos Islands
Spanish Islas Galápagos , officially Archipiélago de Colón  (“Columbus Archipelago”)
island group of the eastern Pacific Ocean, administratively a province of  Ecuador. The Galapagos consist of 13 major islands (ranging in area from 5.4 to  1,771 square miles [14 to 4,588 square km]), 6 smaller islands, and scores of  islets and rocks lying athwart the Equator 600 miles (1,000 km) west of the  mainland of Ecuador. Their total land area of 3,093 square miles (8,010 square  km) is scattered over 23,000 square miles (59,500 square km) of ocean. The  government of Ecuador designated part of the Galapagos a wildlife sanctuary in  1935, and in 1959 the sanctuary became the Galapagos National Park. In 1978 the  islands were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in 1986 the Galapagos  Marine Resources Reserve was created to protect the surrounding waters. The  Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz (Indefatigable) Island promotes  scientific studies and protects the indigenous vegetation and animal life of the  Galapagos.
The Galapagos Islands are formed of lava piles and dotted with shield volcanoes,  many of which are periodically active. The striking ruggedness of the arid  landscape is accentuated by high volcanic mountains, craters, and cliffs. The  largest of the islands, Isabela (Albemarle), is approximately 82 miles (132 km)  long and constitutes more than half of the total land area of the archipelago;  it contains Mount Azul, at 5,541 feet (1,689 metres) the highest point of the  Galapagos Islands. The second largest island is Santa Cruz.
The Galapagos Islands were discovered in 1535 by the bishop of Panama, Tomás de  Berlanga, whose ship had drifted off course while en route to Peru. He named  them Las Encantadas (“The Enchanted”), and in his writings he marveled at the  thousands of large galápagos (tortoises) found there. Numerous Spanish voyagers  stopped at the islands from the 16th century, and the Galapagos also came to be  used by pirates and by whale and seal hunters. The area had been unclaimed for  almost 300 years before colonization began on what is now Santa María Island in  1832, when Ecuador took official possession of the archipelago. The islands  became internationally famous as a result of their being visited in 1835 by the  English naturalist Charles Darwin; their unusual fauna contributed to the  groundbreaking theories on natural selection presented in his On the Origin of  Species (1859).
The climate of the Galapagos Islands is characterized by low rainfall, low  humidity, and relatively low air and water temperatures. The islands have  thousands of plant and animal species, of which the vast majority are endemic.  The archipelago's arid lowlands are covered by an open cactus forest. A  transition zone at higher elevations is covered with a forest in which pisonia  (a four o'clock plant) and guava trees dominate, and the moist forest region  above the transition zone is dominated by a Scalesia forest with dense  underbrush. The treeless upland zone is covered with ferns and grasses.
The archipelago is renowned for its unusual animal life. Its giant tortoises are  thought to have some of the longest life spans (up to 150 years) of any creature  on Earth. The close affinities of Galapagos animals to the fauna of South and  Central America indicate that most of the islands' species originated there.  Because of subsequent evolutionary adaptations, an amazing range of subspecies  are found on the islands today. Galapagos finches, for example, have developed a  multitude of adaptive types from one common ancestral type; their subspecies now  differ mainly in beak shape and size. The swimming marine iguanas, which feed on  seaweed and in some places cover the coastal rocks by the hundreds, are unique  and endemic. Another species of interest is the flightless cormorant. In  addition, penguins and fur seals live on the islands side by side with tropical  animals. A geologic study published in 1992 suggested that underwater seamounts  near the Galapagos had formed islands between 5,000,000 and 9,000,000 years ago;  this helped explain the great amount of endemic speciation, which many  biologists believe could not have occurred in a lesser amount of time. The  existing Galapagos Islands were formed between 700,000 and 5,000,000 years ago,  making them geologically young.
The islands' human inhabitants, mostly Ecuadorans, live in settlements on San  Cristóbal, Santa María, Isabela, and Santa Cruz islands; Baltra has an Ecuadoran  military base. Some of the islands are virtually untouched by humans, but many  have been altered by the introduction of nonnative plants, the growth of the  local human population, and tourist traffic. Tourism, fishing, and agriculture  are the main economic activities. Pop. (2001) 18,640; (2010) 25,124.