Current Affairs

(earliest known image of the Galapagos Islands showing up on a map - from the mid 1500s)

OK, here's the caveat: this one isn't about politics, etc., but it is long and it is a bit science-y (with a bit of history and geography thrown in), so feel free to skip!

I still have to upload my Galapagos pictures and videos, but I do have some other points to make about the Galapagos before we leave this magical place fully behind us.

The Galapagos were discovered in 1535 by the Bishop of Panama who was sailing to Peru and was blown off course and the currents took him to the Galapagos. Like many who came after him, he thought the Galapagos were hell on Earth due to the strange creatures he saw and, more importantly, due to how difficult it was to obtain clean fresh water to drink on any of the islands. Most people still agree that the Bishop and his party were the first people (not just the first Europeans) to set foot on the Galapagos. A very small minority argue that native South Americans arrived there at some point prior to the Spanish, but there has been no conclusive proof of this. By the way, the Bishop eventually did manage to leave the Galapagos, hence the knowledge of their existence and their mysteries spread. The word Galapagos comes from the Spanish word "galapago" which is an old word for a type of saddle. The giant land tortoises looked like saddles to the Spanish. They were also known as "the enchanted isles" for centuries.

But one of the wonders of the Galapagos, at least for me, is how in the world they weren't discovered long long ago, particularly by South American natives. If we take a look at ocean currents in the area, you can see what I mean. I couldn't find one particular one that I liked, so here's a couple graphics that show the story.





As you can see from the graphics, there are FIVE ocean currents, big and small, that lead directly (or almost directly) to the Galapagos Islands. These currents come from north, south (2 of them), east and west. According to my little theory, if you were blown off course anywhere off the west coast of southern Central America or almost anywhere off the west coast of South America, you were almost guaranteed to have the currents take you straight to the Galapagos (assuming you had enough supplies to survive). So why does it seem that no one wound up there prior to some unfortunate Spanish bishop in 1535? The coastal waters off Peru and Ecuador are extremely rich in seafood and hence have been fished for millenia. True, the boats would only be kitted out for day trips out to sea, but a fisherman getting caught in the current might possibly survive the 5 days it took to drift to the islands. Of course then it would be nigh impossible for him to get back to the mainland. But as far as anyone can tell, there is absolutely no solid evidence of anyone ever arriving on the Galapagos prior to 1535. I just find that simply amazing.

The currents have a major influence on the Galapagos climate as well as on South America as a whole. Considering the islands lie smack on the equator, they are not as hot as might be expected. The climate is more sub-tropical rather than tropical. The major current is the Peru or Humboldt current which comes up the South American coast all the way from Antarctica to the equator. As it's a cold water current, it is full of vital nutrients which leads to an abundance of organisms at all levels of the food chain. This is the current that almost assuredly brought sea lions and penguins from Antarctica and Patagonia to the Galapagos. The Panama current (also known as the El Niño current due to its role in causing El Niño) is a warm current that comes from the north (this brought the Bishop to the islands). For the most part, the cold southern currents dominate, but when the warm northern current is allowed to remain too long (due to weak winds), El Niño phenomena occur, leading to variable results in the Galapagos, South America and elsewhere. The currents are very noticeable, as the water in the northern part of the islands is much warmer than in the south, even though it's only a few tens of kilometers apart (as we found out when we went snorkeling).

It's no surprise that these powerful ocean currents managed to bring such a wide variety of animals and plants to the Galapagos. But it still confuses me how generations of humans never managed to ride these same currents there until less than 500 years ago. But actually, that's very good news indeed as it allowed the animals to evolve unimpeded for a very long time, leading to the unique varities that exist today. And overall the human impact on the Galapagos to date has been relatively mild, as probably over 95% of all species that ever existed on the Galapagos are still found today. Probably the main victim of humans over the years was the land tortoise. Seafarers absolutely loved it, as the meat was pretty good, but more importantly, those things are pretty juicy on the inside and provided sailors with all important liquids to drink. Most of the islands developed unique species of tortoise and humans wiped out the populations on a couple of islands, but there are still a wide variety of species to be found on the different islands.

One last interesting point to make. When these animals first arrived to the Galapagos, either by air or by water, that obviously wasn't the end of their journey. The next bit required reproduction to survive. So it was no good to show up by yourself. In fact it was almost no good to show up with a partner of the opposite sex, as inbreeding would almost surely lead to extinction anyway. A bare minimum for survival of the species on the islands is probably 10 breeding pairs, or at least 20 animals. That takes a lot of luck for such a group to be taken there all at the same time and survive the journey. Who knows how many other small groups of animals made their way there over time, only to peter out into extinction.