The archipelago has been known by many different names, including the "Enchanted Islands" because of the way in which the strong and shifting currents made navigation difficult. The first crude navigation chart of the islands was done by the buccaneer Ambrose Cowley in 1684. |
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In those charts he named the islands after some of his fellow pirates or after the English noblemen who helped the pirates' cause.
The main islands of the archipelago (with their English names) are:
San Cristobal (Chatham): It bears the name of the Patron Saint of seafarers, "St. Christopher" its English name was given after the English nobleman Count Chatham.
This island hoasts frigatebirds, sea lions, giant turtles, blue and red footed boobies, tropical birds, marine iguanas, dolphins, swallow-tailed gulls.
This 558-sq-km is the fifth largest in the archipelago and has the second largest population.
Its vegetation includes Calandrina Galapagos, Lecocarpus Darwinii, trees such as Lignum Vitae, Matazarna.
The largest fresh water lake in the archipelago "Laguna El Junco" is located in the highlands of San Cristobal. |
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