Galápagos Islands
Galápagos Islands (or Archipiélago de Colón, Islas de Colón, Islas Galápagos) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on either side of the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, 926 km (500 nmi) west of continental Ecuador. The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a biological marine reserve. The principal language on the islands is Spanish. The islands have a population of slightly over 25,000.
The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
Prison Island
Between 1946 and 1959, the Ecuadorean government used 1,790-square-mile Isabela, the largest island in the Galápagos chain, as an agriculture and penal colony. Some 300 prisoners—hardened criminals and political dissidents—were incarcerated there under extremely harsh conditions. Guards ordered them to build a wall out of lava rocks brought from a distant crater—a wall that served no purpose. A number of prisoners, slaving under the hot equatorial sun, are thought to have died during its construction. Today the wall is all that remains of the penal colony and is known as the Muro de las Lagrimas, the Wall of Tears.
External links
- Lynton Mortensen Pioneers a 30 km Swim Around Lord Howe Island
- Drowning In Plastic
- Big Scare Swimming Alone In A New Place
- Calm, Cool And Collected In The Gorgeous Galápagos
- Where Sharks And Swimmers Co-Exist
- Galapagos Tortoise, What Is Lost Is Now Found
- A License To Swim And Share
- David Swift Returns To His Aquatic Roots
- If Not Copacabana Beach, Then Where?
- Sharkwater, Filming Transformation From Predator To Prey
- Bays, Islands And Straits With Pedro Ordenes
- Marathon Swimming
- World Open Water Swimming Association
- Daily News of Open Water Swimming
