Early Colonists

In the years of whaling the first of the Galapagos settlers arrived. Marooned on Floreana, Patrick Watkins lived for 2 years growing vegetables, which he would trade for rum with passing ships. In 1809, he stole a longboat from a passing whaling ship and with the aid of 5 crewmembers he captured he sailed the boat to the mainland. When the boat finally reached Guayaquil Watkins was the only one left alive.

Over the next century visitors and settlements would come and go, business schemes were hatched, but few would stay until the 1920's and 1930's. In 1932, the Galapagos Islands were officially annexed by Ecuador renaming the islands "Archipeielago del Ecuador". Individual island names were again changed; some to their traditional Spanish names while other were renamed after Ecuadorian heroes.

In 1924 William Bebe's book Galapagos World's End was published.  The book detailed Bebe's observation as part of a scientific expedition. The book's descriptions and illustrations painted the Galapagos as a Utopia inspiring a new onset of visitors and settlers.

As the stories of this new land spread around the world eager people traveled to the Galapagos to seek their dream. A group of 22 Norwegians arrived in Floreana in 1925 seeking their fortune from fishing. The tales failed to mention the difficulties of living in an area with little rain and within a year most of the group had deserted the project.

The most famous of the settlers were those on Floreana of which the books The Galapagos Affair and Floreana were published and the Angermeyer brother's whose story was told in My Father's Island.

On Floreana an eccentric German Doctor and his mistress set up a small farm. They lived happily in their island Eden, visited by passing ships and writing of their new life including nudism and experimental diets and medicine. Within a few years, a German family (the Wittmier's who still reside on the island today) and a Baroness with her three male lovers in tow joined them on the island. The settler's feuded climaxing in the mysterious disappearance (and assumed murder) of the Baroness and one of her lovers, the accidental death of another lover and the poisoning of the doctor.

The Angermeyer's a group of 5 brothers' came to the islands and their son's are among the best sailors in the islands. Most of the island's residents were not as complex as those on Floreana and did not seek the notoriety they did. They established quiet farms and fishing operations.

During W.W.II the US government arrived in the islands. They constructed an air force base on Baltra to protect the Panama Canal from Japanese threat. At the end of the war the base and all of its facilities were given to the Ecuadorian government. The landing strip now serves as one of the island's two airports.

In 1959 the 100th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, the Galapagos Islands became Ecuador's first National Park. The same year the internationally non-profit Charles Darwin Foundation was established to assist the in preservation of the islands. These two organizations regulate tourism in the Galapagos. The National Park regulates policies, issues permits, approves landing sites and itineraries while the Darwin Station trains the guides working in there.

Settlement continues in the islands fueled by the country's weak economy. Ecuadorians seek their fortune in the islands where the average wages are 50% than on the continent. The government's attempt to limit immigration has been voted down by the populous. The continued growth has put strains on the islands, which the National Park Service seeks to control.