Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are a group of islands, or archipelago, in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
There are thirteen major islands and a handful of smaller islands that make up the Galápagos archipelago.
They are part of the country of Ecuador, in South America. They lie about 966 kilometres (600 miles) off of the Ecuadorian coast.
The archipelago is distributed on either side of the Equator with an underwater wildlife spectacle with abundant life.
It is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978.
Mount Azul at 5,541 feet is the highest point of the Galapagos Islands.
The principal language on the islands is Spanish.
The islands have a population of slightly over 25,000.

Geology of the Galápagos Islands

It begins at the sea floor and emerges above sea level where biological processes continue.
Three major tectonic plates Nazca, Cocos and Pacific meet at the basis of the ocean, which is of significant geological interest.
In comparison with most oceanic archipelagos, the Galapagos are very young.
- The largest and youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, with less than one million years of existence, and
- The oldest islands, Española and San Cristóbal are somewhere between three to five million years.
They are a volcanic archipelago located at the confluence of three ocean currents.
- These currents are – Humboldt Current, Panama Flow and Cromwell Current.

20 April 2023:
- Recently, a scientific expedition has discovered a previously unknown coral reef with abundant marine life off Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands.