All Topics  
Floreana Island

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Floreana Island
 
 
  Topics Floreana Island Topic Home

Floreana Island is an island of the Galápagos Islands
Galápagos Islands

Gal?pagos Islands are an archipelago of Island#Volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador....
. It was named after Juan José Flores
Juan José Flores

Juan Jos? Flores y Aramburu , called "The founder of the Republic", was a military general who became the first List of heads of state of Ecuador of Ecuador in 1830....
, the first president
President

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, company, trade unions, university, and country. Etymology, a "president" is one who Wiktionary:Preside, who sits in leadership ....
 of Ecuador
Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west....
, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago, having previously been called Charles Island (after King Charles II of England
Charles II of England

Charles II was the Monarchy of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland.His father Charles I of England Regicide#The regicide of Charles I of England at Palace of Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War....
). It is also called Santa Maria
Santa María (ship)

The Santa Mar?a de la Inmaculada Concepción, The Imaculate Conception of Mary, was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492....
 after one of the caravel
Caravel

This article is about the Caravel boat type. For the carvel type of boat building, see Carvel .A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable, two- or three-mast lateen-rigging ship, created by the Portugal and used also by them and by the Spain for long voyages of exploration from the 15th century....
s of Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
.

The island has an area of 173 km² and a maximum altitude of 640 metres. It is one of the islands with the most interesting human history and one of the earliest to be inhabited.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Floreana Island'
Start a new discussion about 'Floreana Island'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Floreana Island is an island of the Galápagos Islands
Galápagos Islands

Gal?pagos Islands are an archipelago of Island#Volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, 972 km west of continental Ecuador....
. It was named after Juan José Flores
Juan José Flores

Juan Jos? Flores y Aramburu , called "The founder of the Republic", was a military general who became the first List of heads of state of Ecuador of Ecuador in 1830....
, the first president
President

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, company, trade unions, university, and country. Etymology, a "president" is one who Wiktionary:Preside, who sits in leadership ....
 of Ecuador
Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, by Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west....
, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago, having previously been called Charles Island (after King Charles II of England
Charles II of England

Charles II was the Monarchy of Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland.His father Charles I of England Regicide#The regicide of Charles I of England at Palace of Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War....
). It is also called Santa Maria
Santa María (ship)

The Santa Mar?a de la Inmaculada Concepción, The Imaculate Conception of Mary, was the largest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492....
 after one of the caravel
Caravel

This article is about the Caravel boat type. For the carvel type of boat building, see Carvel .A caravel is a small, highly maneuverable, two- or three-mast lateen-rigging ship, created by the Portugal and used also by them and by the Spain for long voyages of exploration from the 15th century....
s of Columbus
Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was a Republic of Genoa navigator, colonialist and explorer whose voyages across the Atlantic Ocean?funded by Queen Isabella of Spain?led to general European awareness of the America in the Western Hemisphere....
.

The island has an area of 173 km² and a maximum altitude of 640 metres. It is one of the islands with the most interesting human history and one of the earliest to be inhabited. Pink flamingo
Flamingo

Flamingos or flamingoes are wikt:gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus and family Phoenicopteridae. They are found in both the Western Hemisphere and in the Eastern Hemisphere, but are more numerous in the latter....
s and green sea turtle
Sea turtle

Sea turtles are turtles found in all the world's oceans except the Arctic Ocean. There are seven living species of sea turtles: Flatback Sea Turtle, Green Sea Turtle, Hawksbill turtle, Kemp's Ridley, leatherback sea turtle, Loggerhead Sea Turtle and Olive Ridley Sea Turtle....
s nest from December to May on this island. The "joint footed" petrel is found here, a nocturnal sea bird
Nocturnal animal

As an animal behavior, nocturnality describes sleeping during the daytime and being active at night - the opposite of the diurnal animal human lifestyle, and that of those animals with which we are most familiar....
 which spends most of its life away from land. At Post Office Bay, since the 18th century whalers
Whaling

Whaling is the hunting of whales and dates back to at least 4,000 BC. The evolution of traditional Arctic whaling developed with increasing rapidity with early organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships along with the concept of whale "har...
 kept a wooden barrel that served as post office
Post office

A post office is a facility authorized by a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail. Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies....
 so that mail could be picked up and delivered to their destination mainly Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 and the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 by ships on their way home. Cards and letters are still placed in the barrel without any postage. Visitors sift through the letters and cards in order to deliver them by hand. At the “Devil's Crown”, an underwater volcanic cone
Volcanic cone

Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcano formations in the world. They are built by fragments thrown up from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater....
, coral
Coral

Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
 formations are found. At Punta Cormorant, there is a green olivine beach to see sea lions and a short walk past a lagoon to see flamingos, rays, sea turtles and ghost and Grapsus grapsus
Grapsus grapsus

The crab Grapsus grapsus is one of the most common crabs along the western coast of South America. It can also be seen along the entire coast of Central America and Mexico, and nearby islands....
 Sally Light Foot crab
Crab

Crabs are Decapoda crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax....
s.

When still known as Charles Island in 1819, the Island was set alight by a sailor from the Nantucket whaling ship the Essex. On the same voyage one year later the Essex was sunk by a massive bull sperm whale
Sperm Whale

The Sperm Whale is the largest of all toothed whales and largest living toothed animal. The whale was named after the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head and originally mistaken for sperm or semen....
.

In September 1835 the second voyage of HMS Beagle
Second voyage of HMS Beagle

The second voyage of HMS Beagle from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836 was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after her previous captain committed suicide....
 brought Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin Royal Society was an English people natural history who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolution over time from common descent, through the process he called natural selection....
 to Charles Island. The ship's crew was greeted by the Acting Governor of Galápagos, Nicolas Lawson, and at the prison colony Darwin was told that tortoises differed in the shape of the shells from island to island, but this was not obvious on the islands he visited and he did not bother with collecting their shells. He industriously collected all the animals, plants, insects & reptiles, and speculated about finding "from future comparison to what district or 'centre of creation' the organized beings of this archipelago must be attached."