Galapagos Island

Galápagos Islands
|Galápagos Islands* |
|UNESCO World Heritage Site |
|[pic] |
|State Party |[pic] Ecuador |
|Type |Natural ||Criteria |vii, viii, ix, x |
|Reference |1 |
|Region† |Latin America and the Caribbean |
|Inscription History |
|Inscription |1978  (2nd Session) |
|Extensions |2001|
|* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. |
|† Region as classified by UNESCO. |

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The Galápagos Islands (Official name: Archipiélago de Colón; other Spanish names: Islas de Colónumio or Islas Galápagos, from galápago, "saddle"—after the shells of saddlebackedGalápagos tortoises) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator, 965 kilometres (about 600 miles) west of continental Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean ([pic]1° S 91° W).
The Galápagos archipelago, with a population of around 30,000, is a province of Ecuador, a country in northwestern South America, and the islands are all part of Ecuador's national park system.
They are famedfor their vast number of endemic species and the studies by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle that contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

|Contents |
|1 Etymology |
|2 Physical Geography|
|2.1 Baltra (South Seymour) |
|2.2 Bartolomé |
|2.3 Darwin (Culpepper) |
|2.4 Española (Hood) |
|2.5 Fernandina (Narborough)|
|2.6 Floreana (Charles or Santa María) |
|2.7 Genovesa Island (Tower) |
|2.8 Isabela (Albemarle) |
|2.9 Marchena (Bindloe) |
|2.10 North Seymour|
|2.11 Pinta (Abingdon) |
|2.12 Pinzón (Duncan) |
|2.13 Rábida (Jervis) |
|2.14 San Cristóbal (Chatham) |
|2.15 Santa Cruz (Indefatigable)|
|2.16 Santa Fe (Barrington) |
|2.17 Santiago (San Salvador, James) |
|2.18 South Plaza |
|2.19 Wolf (Wenman) |
|2.20 Minor islands|
|3 History |
|4 Political geography |
|5 Demographics |
|6 Conservation |
|6.1 Environmental threats...