ISLAND

Originally claimed by Spain, the Galapagos are a province of Ecuador, formally discovered by Fray Tomás de Berlanga, a Dominican bishop, on 10 March 1535. While he was the first European to visit, evidence exists of prior habitation by South Americans. Ecuador annexed the Galapagos on 12 February 1832. Famously, the islands were visited by Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle in September and October 1835, the fruits of his visit appearing in On the Origin of Species, published 1859.

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