Galapagos High Sea

The waters around the Galápagos entered European records through an accidental landfall. In 1535 Tomás de Berlanga, bishop of Panama, was sailing toward Peru when calm winds and currents carried his ship off course. He reported the islands and their wildlife to the Spanish king, describing a difficult stop in a place where fresh water was scarce.

The islands later offered shelter to pirates operating against Spanish Pacific commerce. William Ambrosia Cowley mapped them in 1684. In 1793 James Colnett surveyed the archipelago while investigating opportunities for Pacific whaling. Whalers and seal hunters took giant tortoises aboard as food for long voyages, contributing to a severe decline in their numbers. These events concern the archipelago and surrounding routes rather than a settlement in this particular open-sea zone.