The Galápagos Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean which now belong to Ecuador. .
97% of the islands are a national park, all except the inhabited parts. The Galápagos National Park is a United Nations World Heritage Site and a marine reserve.
The Galápagos Islands are on the equator, 973 km from the country of Ecuador of the coast of South America. There are 19 islands with a total of 8,010 square km of land. The islands were made from volcanoes, and volcanoes are still active making new islands today.
In 20015, about 30,000 people lived in the Galápagos Islands. People live on only 5 of the 19 islands of the Galápagos. Puerto Ayora is the biggest town, where about 10,000 people live. Puerto Ayora is on Santa Cruz Island.
The islands are famous for the very unusual animals that live there. Many species of animals live on the island that can be found nowhere else on earth. The most famous of all are the giant tortoises. The tortoises are huge, and can live to over 100 years old. Each island has animals that are slightly different from each other, each has adapted to the islands environment in their own small way. These animals helped Charles Darwin towards his theory of evolution by natural selection after he visited the islands in 1835
Tourism has steadily grown over the last two decades; in 2012 it is estimated that 200,000 tourists will visit the Galápagos Islands.
