In News:Chinese fishing fleet entered the Galapagos region and Ecuador has officially expressed its “discomfort” to China over the fishing vessels.
About
The Galapagos Islands, spread over almost 60,000 sq km, are a part of Ecuador, and are located in the Pacific Ocean around 1,000 km away from the South American continent.
The giant tortoises found here – ‘Galápagos’ in old Spanish– give the islands its name.
Ecuador made a part of the Galapagos a wildlife sanctuary in 1935, and the sanctuary became the Galapagos National Park in 1959. In 1978, the islands became UNESCO’s first World Heritage Site.
The Galapagos Islands host a wide array of aquatic wildlife, including marine iguanas, fur seals, and waved albatrosses.
