The Gal醦agos were originally found by Inca explorers around 1480. But it is difficult to prove or disprove this. Many historians believe that the Incas were actually at the Easter Islands, much further south.
The official discovery of the Gal醦agos Islands was made in 1535 by Fray Tom醩 de Berlanga, the Bishop of Panama. He was on a journey from Panama to what is now Peru. The Bishop and his crew were low on supplies when they came upon the island and had trouble finding food and water. In fact, a few of his men and close to a dozen of his horses died of starvation. Others became so desperate that they resorted to chewing cactus pads.
He sent accounts of his discovery to Emperor Carlos V of Spain. These are the fist known accounts of the giant Gal醦agos Tortoise and the incredible iguanas. He told Carlos V that the birds were so tame they didn't run from his men and many were actually caught by hand. (This would seem to imply that the birds had never had human contact.)
The islands began appearing on maps in about 1570. They were often referred to as: "Insulae de los Gal醦agos"-- Islands of the Tortoises, or "Encantadas" -- Bewitched Islands.
Most of the other, non-explorers, to visit Gal醦agos during this time were pirates and whalers. Pirates found Gal醦agos was a great place to base raids on Spanish colonies. They brought their raided goods back to the islands- perhaps there are still gold and silver caches to be discovered.
The whalers and sealers are charged with wiping out entire species of tortoises and seals. Reports claim that over 15,000 tortoises were killed for food in less than 35 years. It is estimated that over 100,000 tortoises were killed in all. When the seal and tortoise populations became very sparse, the whalers and sealers stopped coming to the islands, so many seal and tortoise populations survived and reproduced.
The Gal醦agos were officially annexed by Ecuador in 1832 and were named "Archipelago del Ecuador." It is still today officially a province of Ecuador. Ecuador claimed the Gal醦agos Islands just three years before their most famous visitor, Charles Darwin, dropped anchor on the Beagle and stepped ashore and into history. His research on the islands eventually led to the formation of his theory of evolution of the species by natural selection.
sos:The Galapagos Islands
Galapagos Galapagos = "kura-kura raksasa" = giant tortoise ,adalah kepulauan vulkanik aka adalah puncak gunung berapi di dasar laut, yang berada di wilayah Ekuador, Amerika Selatan di sepanjang khatulistiwa. Aktiviti vulkanik yg membentuk pulau-pulau dianggap hasil dari segumpal bahan mantel panas yang naek dari interior bumi. Di sini terdapat 13 pulau vulkanik yang hingga sekarang terus mbentuk.pulau terbeso, Isabela dan pulau tertua dijangka berumur 4 juta tahun. kepulauan ini terkenal karena memiliki hewan-hewan yg unik ,salah satu iallah giant tortoise aka kura-kura raksasa ,itu sbb nya kepulauan ni dipanggil sempena kehadiran kura kura gergasi
pda abad ke 16, sebelum manuseia sampai ke pulau Galapagos, diperkirakan sudah ada sekira 250 000 spesies kura-kura raksasa yagn idop di sana.yg akhir nya Kura-kura tersebut jadik sebagai sumber makanan.
Kura-kura Galapagos penah mencapai berat 900 kilogram, dan daging nya benar-benar kaya dengan lemak minyak. para pelaut zaman dolumengambil kura-kura trsebot dan peliharanya dalam kapal mereka untuk dilahap saat diperlukan
6 spesies yang penting :
1. Conolophus subcristatus aka iguana darat
2. Amblyrhynchus cristatus ( jenis iguana yang makan algae dan idopan dari laut)
Post time 17-6-2004 03:40 AM
变色卡
Author
menarikk!!! 
