A Santa Cruz giant tortoise in Galápagos National Park, Ecuador.Image: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0A lost bishop comes upon the Galápagos
In February 1535 Tomás de Berlanga, Bishop of Panama, sailed for Peru on the orders of the Spanish king. Becalmed near the Equator and carried west by strong currents, his ship drifted for days until, on 10 March by the calendar then in use, the crew sighted unknown islands. Desperate for water, they went ashore. Berlanga’s report to the king gave the first description of the islands and their giant tortoises, or galápagos, which later gave the islands their name.
Source: Galápagos Conservancy: History of Galápagos ↗
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