Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands or the Galapagos course is an archipelago of 13 volcanic islands and rocks located in the Pacific Ocean about 1,000 kilometers north-west coast of South America.
Politically, the Galapagos are part of Ecuador. Eldest Island about 4 million years old and the youngest is still in process of formation. Galapagos is indeed one of the area's most active volcanoes in the world.
Galapagos is famous for endemisnya a large number of species and research by Charles Darwin who carried out the theory of natural selection.
The islands are divided into two parts: north and south of the equator. The equator through the northern part of the largest island, Isabela.
Galapagos Islands as a nature reserve established in 1959, protecting 97.5% of this archipelago. The rest is given to human settlements that already exist at the time. About 1,000 to 2,000 people live there. In 1972 a census carried out and recorded a number of 3488 souls. Until the 1980s, this number had increased to 15,000 people.
In 1986 the surrounding ocean declared a marine reserve. UNESCO set the Galapagos as a World Heritage Site in 1978 which was later extended in December 2001 to include areas of marine reserves. Charles Darwin Foundation is dedicated to the maintenance of these islands was founded in Belgium in 1959.
Species of importance include:

• Land iguanas, Conolophus subcristatus

• Marine iguanas, Amblyrhynchus cristatus (only iguana species that eat food from the sea)

Galapgos Giant Tortoise, Geochelone elephantopus, known as Galápago in Spanish, is the animal from which the name of these islands. 13 endemic species of finch. Galapagos penguin, Spheniscus mendiculus Seabirds are not flying, Nannopterum harrisi
   
 The name of the larger islands in the Galapagos Islands are:

• San Cristóbal

• Española

• Santa Fe

• Genovesa

• Floreana

• South Plaza

• Santa Cruz

• Baltra

• North Seymour

• Marchena

• Pinzón

• Rábida

• Bartolomé