The history of the Galapagos Islands is quite a unique one. Thought to be first discovered by the Inca tribes that lived on mainland South America, these islands were first spotted by Bishop Tomas de Berlanga in 1535, while he was traveling from Panama to Peru. The most amazing discovery of the trip was the giant tortoises or Galapago as they are known in Spanish, which were found on the islands. Often used as a stopover base since its discovery, the Galapagos Islands sheltered buccaneers, pirates, whalers and sealers, who used this region. A great location due to its protected anchorage, the availability of food, fresh water and firewood, these islands soon became a place for scientific discovery in the late 18th century.

Visited by Darwin in 1835, these islands provided him with a plethora of information that helped him form the basis of his theory of evolution. Claimed by Ecuador in 1832, these islands slowly began to be inhabited and were soon used as penal colonies, the last of which ultimately shut down in 1959. However, by 1934 the government of Ecuador had begun to realize the importance of the Galapagos and a few islands were turned into wildlife sanctuaries. By 1959 after the penal colonies were all closed, these islands became a national park with the Charles Darwin Research Station set up in Academy Bay on Isla Santa Cruz. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO a few years later in 1979, this national park was expanded to include the Galapagos Marine Resources Reserve in 1986.

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