Galapagueana
Galapagos historical bibliography
History is conventionally defined as the period of time in which human societies have produced written texts. Arbitrary as it is, such a definition reflects an undeniable fact: through artifacts, manuscripts, prints, images and many other documents (understood as "any material capable of containing and transmitting some type of information") it is possible to reconstruct the journey of human beings along the centuries. And while such documents definitively leave out the vast majority of events and characters, they provide at least a basic line of events that allow the construction of an elemental historical panorama.
From this perspective, the history of the Galapagos Islands begins in 1535, when the Spanish bishop Tomás de Berlanga gave an account of its existence for the first time in a letter to King Carlos I. From that moment on, they began to be mentioned in chronicles, travel diaries, naval logs, notebooks, correspondence, academic articles, novels and endless other documents that, like a trail of crumbs, can be recovered to (re)build a possible (always provisional, never definitive) history of the human presence in the archipelago.
In their pages, illustrations and letters, these materials show the progressive change in the gaze of the visitors who arrived in Galapagos, and how their experiences fed each other. They also reflect the development of different international geo-political contexts, and how the islands were part of them. Finally, they provide essential data to understand the emergence of different worldviews and scientific paradigms and the evolution of the different academic disciplines and methodologies.
This Historical Bibliography of Galapagos, part of the Galapagueana project, collects a list of documents through which the history of the Galapagos Islands is reported. The list, closely linked to the Galapagueana's timeline, presents the materials in chronological order, although their dates of publication (original or not) are not necessarily used.
Each item presents its corresponding bibliographic reference and, when possible, a link to download and view the full text. Such texts, now part of the public domain and the universal cultural and historical heritage, have been digitized by libraries and archives around the world and have been made available online by those entities or by platforms such as archive.org or Biodiversity Library. The versions to download from this document have been uploaded to Galapagueana to guarantee access continuity.
The ultimate goal of this Bibliography... is to provide a basic and initial gateway to a rich and sometimes little-known literary and documentary production. Likewise, it aims to show, albeit in an elementary way, the numerous relationships between the documents, and between them and the historical events that they rescue from oblivion. Finally, it seeks to present the idea of social memory (the basis of history) as a dense fabric, made up of innumerable strands of different types, smaller or larger but always equally important.
Bibliography
base
Below, a basic bibliography on the human history of Galapagos Islands is presented.
Borja, Rafael. Galápagos: mito y realidad. 1.ed. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 1948.
Grenier, Christophe. Conservación contra natura: las islas Galápagos. Quito: Abya Yala.
Idrovo, Hugo. Baltra - base Beta: Galápagos y la Segunda Guerra Mundial. 2.ed. Quito: Fondo Editorial del Ministerio de Cultura del Ecuador, 2013.
Latorre, Octavio. El hombre en las Islas Encantadas: la historia humana de Galápagos. Quito: the author, 1999.
Latorre, Octavio. Historia humana de Galápagos: nuevas investigaciones. 2.ed. Quito: the author, 2014.
Latorre, Octavio. Manuel J. Cobos, emperador de Galápagos. Quito: FCD, 1991.
Latorre, Octavio. Thomás de Berlanga y el descubrimiento de Galápagos. Quito: the author, 1996.
Luna Tobar, Alfredo. Historia política internacional de las islas Galápagos. Quito: Abya Yala, 1997.
Machuca Mestanza, José E. Cronología histórica de Galápagos 1535-2000. Guayaquil: the author, 2004.
Maldonado, R.; Llerena, E. Historia humana. Isla Isabela. Puerto Ayora: Dirección del Parque Nacional Galápagos, 2019.
Maldonado, R.; Llerena, E. Historia humana. Isla San Cristóbal. Puerto Ayora: Dirección del Parque Nacional Galápagos, 2019.
Maldonado, R.; Llerena, E. Historia humana. Isla Santa Cruz. Puerto Ayora: Dirección del Parque Nacional Galápagos, 2019.
Rodas Ziadé, Fadia Paola; Vivanco Cárdenas, Adriana Karina. Galápagos, prisión de basalto: terror y lágrimas en la isla Isabela. Quito: Fondo Editorial del Ministerio de Cultura del Ecuador, 2012.
Von Hagen, Víctor. Darwin y las islas Encantadas: la fascinante historia de las Galápagos. 1.ed. México: Editorial Diana, 1988.
The Spanish Bishop Tomás de Berlanga is the first known European to land on the Galapagos Islands. That same year, from Portoviejo (old Puerto Viejo, current Ecuador), he writes a letter to King Charles I, Carta a Su Magestad de Fray Tomás de Berlanga, describiendo su viaje desde Panamá á Puerto Viejo, e los trabajos que padeció en la navegacion ["Letter to His Majesty from Fray Tomás de Berlanga, describing his voyage from Panama to Puerto Viejo, and the labors he endured in navigation"], where he describes the archipelago (April 26).
The letter, found in the Archivo de Indias, is first published at the end of the 19th century (1864-1884) in a compilation of colonial documents edited by Joaquín F. Pacheco, Francisco de Cárdenas and Luis Torres de Mendoza.
Carta a Su Magestad de Fray Tomás de Berlanga, describiendo su viaje desde Panamá á Puerto Viejo, e los trabajos que padeció en la navegación. In Pacheco, Joaquín F.; Cárdenas, Francisco de; Torres de Mendoza, Luis (comps.). Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y colonización de las posesiones españolas en América y Oceanía... [1ª Serie]. Madrid: Imprenta de M. Bernaldo de Quirós [etc.], 1864-1884, tome XLI, pp. 538-544. [AECID]. Download.
Timeline [1535]. Check.
1546In the midst of the Civil Wars between the Conquerors of Peru, the Spanish Diego de Rivadeneira ends up stranded on the Galapagos Islands. Apparently, there is a review of the trip with a succinct description of the islands written by the treasurer Pedro Castellanos, and news of that navigation noted by Pedro de la Gasca, president of the Royal Court of Lima, and by Pedro Cieza de León in the third book of his Guerras civiles del Perú ["Peruvian Civil Wars"].
The latter work, written around the middle of the 16th century and first published by Marcos Jiménez de la Espada in 1877 (based on an incomplete manuscript in the Library of the Royal Palace in Madrid), is probably the best known source for these facts: specifically, chapter CCVII, entitled De cómo el capitán Diego de Rivadeneira allegó al puerto de Quilca, y de cómo fue aportar a la Nueva España y en el camino vido una isla grandísima ["How Captain Diego de Rivadeneira reached the port of Quilca, and how he was brought to New Spain and on the way saw a very large island"].
Tercero libro de las Guerras civiles del Perú el cual se llama La Guerra de Quito / hecho por Pedro de Cieza de León y publicado por Marcos Jiménez de la Espada. Madrid: Imprenta de M. G. Hernández, 1877. Chapter CCVII: "De cómo el capitán Diego de Rivadeneira allegó al puerto de Quilca, y de cómo fue aportar a la Nueva España y en el camino vido una isla grandísima".
Timeline [1546]. Check.
1561Certain sources indicate the publication, this year, of a map in which the Galapagos Islands appear and which would have served as the basis for the charts included in the works of Mercator (1569) and Ortelius (1570).
This is probably the portolano preserved in the Library of Congress of the USA, of unknown authorship, currently dated around 1565 (but originally dated 1561), and in which the islands are marked as "ys de galapagos".
It could also be the map of America by German cartographer Sebastian Münster, entitled Tabula novarum insularum ["Map of the new islands"], included in his version of Ptolemy's Geographia of 1540, and in his Cosmographia of 1544, the first description of the world in German. On such a map there are some islands in the South Sea (first called "Mare pacificum" on a chart), labeled "Ins. Infortunate". In numerous popular sources, the publication of this map is erroneously dated to 1561.
There could be earlier representations of the Galapagos in Tabula moderna alterius hemisphaerii ["Modern map of another hemisphere"], attributed to the German Lorenz Fries (between 1522 and 1525), and in Monumenta cartographica ["Cartographic monuments"] by the German polymath Johannes Schöner (between 1524 and 1535), although the actual identity of such representations remains unclear.
The archipelago does not appear in earlier maps, such as Universalis cosmographia secundum Ptholomaei traditionem et Americi Vespucii aliorumque lustrationes ["A universal cosmography according to the tradition of Ptolemy and the surveys of Americo Vespucci and others"] by the German geographer Martin Waldseemüller (1507), the nautical map by the Genoese cartographer Battista Agnese (1541), and the portolano by the same author (1544). Nor does it seem to appear in contemporary maps, such as that of the French Nicolas Desliens (1566, although the "ys. coques" or Cocos Island appears in this one) and that of the two hemispheres of the French corsair and cartographer Guillaume Le Testu (1566).
Tabula novarum insularum / Sebastian Münster. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1544. [New South Wales State Library]. Download.
[Portolan chart of the Pacific coast from Guatemala to northern Peru with the Galapagos Islands]. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [ca 1565]. [Library of Congress of the USA]. Download.
Timeline [1561]. Check.
1569The Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator publishes Nova et aucta orbis terrae descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accommodata ["New and more complete representation of the terrestrial globe, duly adapted for use in navigation"]. The Galapagos Islands appear repeated, perhaps accounting for the impossibility of cartographers to locate them and, therefore, the reason for their Spanish nickname "Encantadas" ["Enchanted"].
One of these two groups of islands turned out to be Cocos Island (Costa Rica). This error was corrected by the Brabantine cartographer Abraham Ortelius in his Theatrum orbis terrarum ["Theater of the Terrestrial Globe"] (1570), although only in the 1587 edition.
Nova et aucta orbis terrae descriptio ad usum navigantium emendate accomodata... / Gerardus Mercator dedicabat. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1569. [Gallica / BnF]. Download.
Timeline [1569]. Check.
1570The Brabantine cartographer, geographer and cosmographer Abraham Ortelius includes the "ye. de los galopegos" in his Theatrum orbis terrarum ["Theater of the Terrestrial Globe"], one of the earliest European geographic atlases, first published in Antwerp by Gilles Coppens van Diest, and with countless subsequent editions.
The archipelago appears in the first plate of the book, titled Typus orbis terrarum ["Map of the Terrestrial Globe"], and in the map Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio ["America or New World, new representation"]. Both elements are based on Mercator's work of 1569, and repeat the duplication of the Galapagos Islands. This error is finally corrected in the 1587 edition, when one of the groups previously called "Galapagos" becomes "Ins. de Cocos" (Cocos Island, Costa Rica).
Theatrum orbis terrarum / Abrahamus Ortelius. [Amberes]: [Gilles Coppens van Diest], 1570. [Archive.org]. Download.
Theatre de l'Univers, contenant les cartes de tout le monde. Avec une brieve declaration d'icelles / par Abraham Ortelius. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1587. [Archive.org]. Download.
Timeline [1570]. Check.
Around this time, Spanish chronicler Juan López de Velasco produced the map Descripcion de las Yndias Occidentales ["Description of the Western Indies"], where the Galapagos Islands appear ("y. de galapagos"). Prepared for inclusion in that author's Geografía y descripción universal de las Indias ["Geography and universal description of the Indies"] (1574), they end up appearing in Antonio de Herrera's Décadas ["Decades"] (1601).
El Mar del Sur en algunos mapas náuticos de la Biblioteca Nacional de Florencia / Simonetta Conti. Revista de Estudios Colombinos, 9, June 2013, pp. 7-20.
Timeline [1570]. Check.
1572In his Historia índica (second part of the Historia de los Incas), the Spanish explorer and chronicler Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa collects the legend of the islands of Auachumbi and Niñachumbi, later related to the Galapagos.
Historia de los Incas / Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa. 3.ed. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1947, p. 215. [Scribd]. Download.
1574A Hispanic cartographer, who signs with the Latin name of "Didaco Mendezio", includes the Galapagos in a map of the Viceroyalty of Peru. This will serve as the basis for Peruviae auriferae regionis typus ["Map of the gold regions of Peru"], the first printed map of Peru, published by the Brabantine cartographer Abraham Ortelius in the 1584 edition of his Theatrum orbis terrarum ["Theater of the Terrestrial Globe"] (1570). The archipelago is labelled as "Insolae de Galapagas".
According to some sources of Peruvian historiography (Paz Roldán, Porras Barrenechea), "Didaco Mendezio" would have been the priest Diego Méndez, chaplain of the convent of Ntra. Stra. de la Encarnación in Lima. However, this opinion has been strongly debated by other authors.
Peruviae auriferae regionis typus / Didaco Mendezio, Abraham Ortelius. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1584. [Biblioteca Digital de Bogotá]. Download.
Los mapas lícitos de publicar en Amberes. Redes, agentes y fuentes cartográficas usadas por Abraham Ortelius para el "Pervviae Avriferæ Regionis Typvs. Didaco Mendezio auctore", 1584 / Sebastián Díaz Ángel. In Roque de Oliveira, Francisco (comp.). Cartógrafos para toda a terra: Produção e circulação do saber cartográfico ibero-americano: Agentes e contextos. Volume 1. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal, 2015, pp. 115-148.
Timeline [1574]. Check.
1584Some sources (Slevin and followers) point to the presence of the Galapagos Islands in Dàyíng quántú ["Complete Map of the Great World"], a chart drawn up by the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci in China. However, no surviving copies of that map exist. In 1602, a derivative of such disappeared work, produced by the same author and his Chinese collaborators, appeared, called Kūnyú wànguó quántú ["Complete Map of the Myriad Nations of the World"]. It shows islands in the Pacific Ocean that may (or may not) be the Galapagos.
The Galápagos Islands: A history of their exploration / Joseph Richard Slevin. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1959. [Occasional Papers of the CAoS: XXV].
Timeline [1584]. Check.
1586The Spanish clergyman and chronicler Miguel Cabello Balboa, in his Miscelánea antártica (chap. XVII), comments on the legend of the islands of Hagua Chumbi and Nina Chumbi, later related to the Galapagos.
Miscelánea antártica: Una historia del Perú antiguo / Miguel Cabello Valboa. Lima: Instituto de Etnología, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 1951. [Scribd]. Download.
1589Some popular sources indicate that, in this year, the Galapagos Islands are mentioned as "Islas Encantadas" ["Enchanted Islands"] on a map by the Brabantine cartographer Abraham Ortelius. This is an error, because at no time did the author use such a designation. In fact, in Maris pacifici ["Pacific Sea"], a map published precisely in 1589, Ortelius calls them "Galopagos".
Maris pacifici (quod vulgo Mar del Zur) cum regionibus circumiacentibus, insulisque in eodem passim sparsis, novissima descriptio / Abraham Ortelius. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1589. [Wikimedia]. Download.
Timeline [1589]. Check.
1600The Galapagos Islands appear on a nautical map produced by the English Gabriel Tatton before 1598, and on the map Maris pacifici ["Pacific Sea"] (1600), by the same author and engraved by B. Wright.
El Mar del Sur en algunos mapas náuticos de la Biblioteca Nacional de Florencia / Simonetta Conti. Revista de Estudios Colombinos, 9, junio 2013, pp. 7-20.
The Galápagos Islands: A history of their exploration / Joseph Richard Slevin. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1959. [Occasional Papers of the CAoS: XXV].
Timeline [1600]. Check.
1601The Galapagos Islands appear, as "y. de galapagos", on the map Descripcion de las Yndias Occidentales ["Description of the West Indies"], originally produced by Juan Lopez de Velasco around 1570 and included in the Décadas ["Decades"] by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas. The author is erroneously cited as "Herrar" by some sources (Slevin and followers).
Descripcion de las Yndias Occidentales / Juan López de Velasco. [In Décadas by Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas]. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1601. [Wikimedia]. Download.
The Galápagos Islands: A history of their exploration / Joseph Richard Slevin. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1959. [Occasional Papers of the CAoS: XXV].
Timeline [1601]. Check.
1602The map Kūnyú wànguó quántú ["Complete Map of the Myriad Nations of the World"], by Matteo Ricci and his Chinese collaborators, is produced, derived from an earlier chart (1584). It shows islands in the Pacific Ocean that may (or may not) be the Galapagos.
Kūnyú wànguó quántú / Mateo Ricci. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1602. [Library of Congress]. Download.
The Galápagos Islands: A history of their exploration / Joseph Richard Slevin. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1959. [Occasional Papers of the CAoS: XXV].
Timeline [1602]. Check.
1605The Portuguese sailor and explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós assembles a fleet for his trip to the Terra Australis Ignota that includes "a smaller boat or zabra, which had come shortly before from the island of the Galapagos, to pick up the people who had been lost there".
The original handwritten documents of Fernandes de Queirós are edited and published in 1876 by the Spanish Americanist Justo Zaragoza.
Historia del descubrimiento de las regiones austriales hecho por el general Pedro Fernández de Quirós / publicada por don Justo Zaragoza. Tome I. Madrid: Imprenta de Manuel G. Hernández, 1876, chap. XLII, p. 223. [Universidad de Santiago de Compostela]. Download.
Timeline [1605]. Check.
1616The Spanish Mercedarian Martín de Murúa, in his Historia general del Perú (chap. XXV), comments on the legend of the islands of Hahua Chumpi and Nina Chumpi, later related to the Galapagos.
Historia general del Perú / Martín de Murúa. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.], pp. 43-44. [Biblioteca antológica]. Download.
1622The travel diary The Observations of Sir Richard Havvkins Knight, in his Voiage into the South Sea. Anno Domini 1593 is published, sometimes misquoted as Voyages to the South Sea (apparently, from a 1968 facsimile edition). In the document, which briefly records the alleged visit of the British corsair Sir Richard Hawkins to the Galapagos in 1594, the archipelago is mentioned as "Illas de los Galapagos". The author notes that the islands are deserted and, in his opinion, bear no fruit.
The text is republished by the Hakluyt Society in 1847 as The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins, Knt in his Voyage into the South Sea in the year 1593; that reissue is the best-known version of the diary.
The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins, Knt in his Voyage into the South Sea in the year 1593 / reprinted from the edition of 1622, edited by C. R. Drinkwater Bethune, captain R.N. London: printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1847, p. 179. [Archive.org]. Download.
The Observations of Sir Richard Havvkins Knight, in his Voiage into the South Sea. Anno Domini 1593 / Richard Hawkins. London: printed by I[ohn] D[awson] for Iohn Iaggard, and are to be sold at his shop at the Hand and Starre in Fleete-streete, neere the Temple Gate, 1622.
Timeline [1594]. Check.
The Galapagos Islands appear as "los gallapagos" on the Flemish cartographer Hessel Gerritz's map Mar pacífico ["Pacific Sea"]. Curiously, they do not appear on the map of the Atlantic Ocean (and part of the Pacific) by the French Guillaume Levasseur de Beauplan (1601), the similar one by Pierre de Vaulx (1613) or the portolano by the Portuguese Pascoal Roiz (1633).
Mar pacífico / Hessel Gerritz. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1622. [Library of Congress]. Download.
Timeline [1622]. Check.
1630The Galapagos Islands appear as "galapagos" in the Taboas geraes de toda a navegação ["General tables of all navigation"] by the Portuguese Francisco de Seixas y Lovera, João Teixeira Albernaz and Jerónimo de Attayde. Within this work, the archipelago appears in the chart entitled Quinto mapa dela verdadera demarcacion dela America meridional y costas de Guinea y Cafres ["Fifth Map of the True Demarcation of Southern America and Coasts of Guinea and Cafres"].
Taboas geraes de toda a navegação / Francisco de Seixas y Lovera, João Teixeira Albernaz, Jerónimo de Attayde. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1622. [Library of Congress]. Download.
Timeline [1630]. Check.
1680The British buccaneer Bartholomew Sharp arrives at the "isles of Gallapallo" aboard the Trinity, but is unable to land on them. The fact appears cited in a myriad of documents related to that expedition. These include the earliest printed source: the journal of John Cox, the pilot of the Trinity, published by Philip Ayres in 1684 as The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Barth. Sharp and others in the South Sea, where the islands are listed as "Gallipagoes" and where, curiously, Cox's name is nowhere to be found.
Basil Ringrose's diaries follow, of which two survive (one by his hand, Ms. Sloane 3820 from the British Library, and another containing 12 charts, by the British cartographer and publisher William Hacke, Ms. Sloane 48), both from 1682 or earlier; the printed version of Ringrose's diary, based on Ms. Sloane 48 and published as Bucaniers of America vol. 2 by William Crooke in 1685 (which, by 1771, already has at least 7 reprints); and the many versions of Sharp's own diary. These include Ms. Sloane 46A and 46B, Pepys PL 2874 and 2610, and the various copies made by Hacke after Ambrose Cowley's return from the Pacific in 1686. In 1699, Sharp's journal goes to press, again thanks to Hacke, in his A Collection of Original Voyages.
Related to this voyage is also the famous South Seas Waggoner: a series of charts compiled from a map-book captured by Sharp on a Spanish galleon, and whose first version appears in 1682.
The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Barth. Sharp and others in the South Sea: Being a journal of the same / published by P[hilip] A[yres], Esq. London: printed by B. W. for R. H. and S. T., 1684, p. 18. [Archive.org]. Download.
Journal of Basil Ringrose's Voyage with Bartholomew Sharp in the South Seas. [N.d.]: [n.d.], ca. 1682, British Library, Ms. Sloane 48.
Bucaniers of America: the second volume; containing the dangerous voyage and bold attempts of Captain Bartholomew Sharp, and others, performed upon the coasts of the South Sea, for the space of two years, &c.; from the original journal of the said voyage / written by Mr. Basil Ringrose, Gent., who was all along present at those transactions. London: printed for William Crooke, at the Sign of the Green Dragon without Temple-bar, 1685.
Journal of Capt. Bartholomew Sharp of a Voyage via Barbados and Cape Horn to the South Seas, Golden Island and the west coast of North America, 1680; and Capt. John Wood on the Straits of Magellan, 1669. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.], British Library, Mss. Sloane 46A & 46B.
Timeline [1680]. Check.
1682First version of the South Seas Waggoner, a compilation of maps produced by the British cartographer and publisher William Hacke, based on a Spanish map-book captured by the British pirate Bartholomew Sharp (British Museum, Ms. Harleian 4034).
This first is followed by several others: Wagoner of the Great South Sea (1682, British Museum), Waggoner of the South Sea (1683, Free Library of Philadelphia), A Description of the South Sea Coasts in the South Sea of America (1683-1684), Captain Bartholomew Sharp's South Sea Waggoner (1684, British Library, Ms. Sloane 44), A Waggoner of the South Sea (1685, National Maritime Museum Greenwich, SMF/177), An Appendix to the South Waggoner (1687, British Library, Ms. Sloane 45), A Description of all Ports in the South Seas of America (1686, 1698, British Museum) and An Accurate Description of all the Harbours in the South Sea of America (ca. 1698), most of them works by William Hacke.
All general maps of the Pacific coast include the Galapagos Islands. The second part of An Appendix to the South Waggoner (fol. 37) contains a chart of the archipelago, as does A Description of all Ports in the South Seas of America and An Accurate Description of all the Harbours in the South Sea of America.
A Buccaneer's Atlas: Basil Ringrose's South Sea Waggoner / edited by Derek House and Norman J. W. Thrower. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. [Google Books]. Download.
William Hack's Manuscript Atlases of "The Great South Sea of America" / Thomas Adams. The John Carter Brown Library Annual Report, 1965-1966. Providence: The John Carter Brown Library, 1967.
Timeline [1680]. Check.
1684The Batchelor's Delight is one of the first documented pirate ships to dock on the islands. Commanded by John Cook, and accompanied by John Eaton's Nicholas, it carries on board Edward Davis, William Ambrose Cowley and William Dampier, among others.
Dampier takes detailed notes on the geography and wildlife (published in 1697), while Cowley draws a map of the islands (the most accurate until FitzRoy's in 1835) and writes his chronicles. Such chronicles circulate in manuscript form in 1686 (Account of my Voyage round this Terestiall Globe of the World, from Virginia to England, and through the Great South Sea) and are published, in various editions and under different titles, between that year and 1688, although its best-known version is the one printed by William Hacke in 1699, in A Collection of Original Voyages...; there they are heavily edited.
One of the manuscripts includes the map The Islands of Galapagos: Discover’d by Capt Cowley (1684). However, the version of that chart published in Hacke's 1699 edition (signed by Herman Moll, a London-based cartographer at the time working as an engraver for Browne, Morden & Lea) includes a caption stating that the Galapagos were discovered by John Eaton, from the Nicholas. Indeed, for a time, Eaton received this undeserved credit among the English navigators of his day. The map's original designation is reinstated in 1744.
The Gallapagos Islands: Discovered by Capt John Eaton / William A. Cowley, Herman Moll. In Hacke, W. A Collection of Original Voyages.... [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1699. [No source registered]. Download.
The Gallapagos Islands: Discovered and Described by Capt. Cowley in 1684 / William A. Cowley, John Harris. In Harris, J. Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca. Or, a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels... London: printed for T. Woodward..., 1744, Book 1, p. 79. [No source registered]. Download.
Journal of a Voyage round the World, 1683-1686 [The Voyage of William Ambrosia Cowley, Mariner, from y. Capes of Virginia to y. Islands of Cape D'Verd; from thence to Guiny ... etc.] / William Ambrose Cowley. London: [n.d.], ca.1690, British Library, Sloane Manuscripts Collection, Mss. 1050 & 54. [National Library of Australia]. Download (cover image).
A Collection of Original Voyages ... Illustrated with several Maps and Draughts / published by Capt. William Hacke. London: James Knapton, 1699. I. Captain Cowley's Voyage Round the Globe : II. Captain Sharp's Journey Over the Isthmus of Darien : III. Captain Wood's Voyage Through the Streights of Magellan. [National Library of Australia]. Download (cover image).
The Adventures of William Dampier with others who left Capt. Sherpe in the South Seas and traveled back over Land through the Country of Darien. Sect. III: William Dampier's Second voage [sic] into the South Seas with Captain Cook, wherein he gives a full Relation of all their actions with a description of the harbours, Rivers, Capes and Bayes in the South Seas. With a draft of some of the harbours and makings of the Land, the Situation, Strength and Riches of most of the Towns and product of the Country adjacent to them / William Dampier. London: [n.d.], ca. 1690, British Library, Sloane Manuscripts Collection, Ms. 3236, fol. 29-233. [National Library of Australia]. Download (cover image).
Account of my Voyage round this Terestiall Globe of the World, from Virginia to England, and through the Great South Sea / William A. Cowley. In Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. IV, Dawson Turner (Virginia Historical Society Ms. T8525a3), October 25, 1686.
The Voyage of Capt. Cowley. Papist. London: [n.d.], 1687, Lambeth Palace Library, Ms. 642.
Cowley's Voyage Round the World. London: [n.d.], 1688, British Library, Ms. Sloane 1050.
A Journal kept by Capt. Wm. Cowley on board the Ship Nicholas of London Capt. John Eaton Commander. A Voyage from Gorgona Island … to … Holland. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1698.
An Abstract of a Journal kept by Capt. Cowley from Cape Charles … to … the Island of Gorgona. New York: [n.d.], [n.d.], Morgan Library, Ms. MA 3310.
Timeline [1684]. Check.
Timeline [1687]. Check.
Some sources (Slevin and followers) incorrectly point out the visit of the French filibuster Raveneau de Lussan. In his famous diary, Journal du voyage fait à la mer du Sud, avec les flibustiers de l'Amérique en 1684 et années suivantes ["Journal of the Voyage made to the South Sea, with the Filibusters of America in 1684 and following years"], there is no mention of any visit to the archipelago, much less that year. It is explained that on June 12, 1687, it was thought that the Galapagos ("isles Galapes") were to be reached, but the difficulty of finding water on those coasts caused the attempt to be abandoned.
Journal du voyage fait a la Mer de Sud, avec les filibustiers de l'Amerique / par le Sieur Raveneau de Lussan. Paris: chez Jacques Le Febvre, 1699. Published later on tome III of Histoire des avanturiers flibustiers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes. Trevoux: par la Compagnie, 1744. [Gallica / BnF]. Download.
The Galápagos Islands: A history of their exploration / Joseph Richard Slevin. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1959. [Occasional Papers of the CAoS: XXV].
Timeline [1684]. Check.
1685Second visit of the British pirate Edward Davis, together with William Knight, aboard the Batchelor's Delight (June). The visit is mentioned in William Dampier's diary of 1697.
Timeline [1685]. Check.
1687New visit of the Batchelor's Delight, commanded by the British pirate Edward Davis.
Some sources mention two visits in 1687; in the second occasion, Davis would have distributed booty of goods and coins in Floreana. However, the diary of the French corsair Raveneau de Lussan, of 1684, explains that this distribution (after having assaulted "Queaquille" or Guayaquil) would have taken place on June 11, 1687 near the coast of Santa Helena, in continental Ecuador.
The Galápagos Islands: A history of their exploration / Joseph Richard Slevin. San Francisco: California Academy of Sciences, 1959. [Occasional Papers of the CAoS: XXV].
Timeline [1687]. Check.
Some authors (Donoso and others) indicate that the French pirates François Grogniet ("Chasse-Marée" or "Cachemarée"), Pierre Le Picard, and George Dew would have passed through Galapagos before attacking Guayaquil in 1687, although no documents have been found to confirm this information. The same sources also indicate that the corsair Franz Rools reportedly visited Galapagos twice aboard the Saint-Nicholas in 1689, and that François Massertie (supposed author of Journal de bord d'un flibustier) and Jouhan de la Guilbaudiére (author of the atlas Description des principaux endroits de la Mer du Sud..., 1696) reportedly gave French names to the islands. No documents confirming such data have been found either.
Piratas en Galápagos (1680-1720) / Sebastián Ignacio Donoso Bustamante. Quito: Editorial Ecuador, 2014.
Timeline [1687]. Check.
1697A New Voyage round the World is published, by the British pirate and naturalist William Dampier. It includes an excellent description of his visit to Galapagos in 1684 as part of the Batchelor's Delight crew. It is said that his adventures inspired Jonathan Swift to develop some passages of Gulliver's Travels.
A New Voyage round the World: describing particularly... / by captain William Dampier. Illustrated with particular maps and draughts. The fourth edition corrected. London: printed for James Knapton, 1699. [Archive.org]. Download.
A New Voyage round the World: describing particularly... / by William Dampier. Illustrated with particular maps and draughts. London: printed for James Knapton, 1697. [Archive.org]. Download.
Timeline [1684]. Check.
1700The expedition of the French navigator and explorer Jacques Gouin, Sieur de Beauchêne (or Beauchesne, or Beauchesne-Gouin), makes a stopover in the Galapagos Islands, which are registered as "Isles Galapes".
The main journal of the trip is written by the engineer Duplessis, and includes the first watercolors of Galapagos fauna and a series of French names given to some islands (Isle de Tabac / Tebac, Isle de Santé / Saute, Isle de Mascarin...). Originally entitled Relation journalière d'un voyage fait en 1698, 1699, 1700 et 1701... ["Daily report of a journey made in 1698, 1699, 1700 and 1701..."], it contains a certificate expressing Beauchêne's satisfaction with the chronicler's work, and is now known by the name of one of his revised modern editions: Periple de Beauchesne to the Terre de Feu... ["Periple de Beauchesne to the Tierra del Fuego..."].
Other products of the voyage are the many maps produced by the voyage's engineers, especially those of the Strait of Magellan, and the diaries of expedition members such as Msr. de Labat and Msr. Jost de Villefort (Ms. Delisle, 32), currently kept by the French National Library or by the Defense Historical Service library, and all of them containing notes on the Galapagos Islands.
Relation journalière d'un voyage fait en 1698, 1699, 1700 et 1701, par M. de Beauchesne, capitaine de vaisseau, aux isles du Cap Vert, coste du Brésil, coste déserte de l'Amérique méridionalle, destroit de Magellan, costes du Chily et du Pérou, aux isles Galapes, destroit du Maire, isles de Sebalds de Vards, isles des Essorts / fait par le sieur Duplessis, ingénieur sur le vaisseau le Conte de Maurepas. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [1701?], Bibliotheque du Service Historique de la Defense, Ms. 223 / 5617.
Description des terres vues pendant le voyage de M. de Beauchesne dans les années 1699, 1700 et 1701 / par le Sr de Labat, ingénieur embarqué sur son vaisseau. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.], Bibliotheque du Service Historique de la Defense, Ms. 362 / 5618.
Journal de M. de Beauchesne de sa navigation dans la mer du Sud, son passage par le détroit de Magellan, le commerce qu'il fit avec les Espagnols dans cette mer et son retour. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.], [Bibliotheque du Service Historique de la Defense].
Relation du voyage du Sr. de Beauchesne de Chilli, dans la mer du Sud de l'Amérique, par le détroit de Magellan... [Mémoire abrégé du voyage de M. de Beauchesne, commandant le vaisseau du roy le Phelippeaux, au Chilly, dans la mer du Sud, par le détroit de Magellan en 1698-99]. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.], [BnF, Fonds Fr. 9097, f. 132].
Deux corsairs malouins sous le règne de Louis XIV / Edgar de La Villestreux. Paris: Librairie ancienne Honoré Champion, 1929.
Timeline [1700]. Check.
1709Visit of the Duke and the Duchess, commanded by the British pirate Woodes Rogers and his partner Stephen Courtney, respectively. In their transit between the Galapagos Islands and Gorgona Island, they barely escape from the Spanish General Pablo Alzamora y Ursino, who is pursuing them from the port of Callao.
In a previous stage of their voyage they rescue, on Juan Fernandez Island, the Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk, who decided to stay there back in 1704. His story would end up inspiring William Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.
The diaries of Rogers and Edward Cooke, another member of the crew, are published in 1712.
Diccionario histórico-biográfico del Perú / formado y redactado por Manuel de Mendiburu. Parte primera que corresponde a la época de la dominación española. Lima: Imprenta de J. Francisco Solís, 1874, p. 220 (entry "Alzamora y Ursino").
Timeline [1709]. Check.
1712A Cruising Voyage Round the World is published by the British pirate Woodes Rogers, including his comments on his visit to Galapagos in 1709.
A Cruising Voyage Round the World / Captain Woodes Rogers; with introduction and notes by G. E. Manwaring. London: Cassell and Company Ltd., 1928, pp. 151-154. [Archive.org]. Download.
A Cruising Voyage Round the World: First to the South-Seas, thence to the East-Indies, and Homewards by the Cape of Good Hope / Captain Woodes Rogers. London: A. Bell & B. Lintot, 1712.
Timeline [1709]. Check.
A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World is published by the British navigator Edward Cooke, who traveled with Woodes Rogers. The first volume includes the drawing of "one of the Galapagos Islands".
A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform’d in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710, and 1711 by the Ships Duke and Dutchess of Bristol / Edward Cooke. Vol. 1. London: B. Lintot & R. Gosling, A. Bettesworth & W. Innys, chap. XXIV. [Archive.org]. Download.
Timeline [1709]. Check.
1719The map Amerique Meridionale divisée en ses principales parties ["South America divided into its main parts"] is published, by French cartographer Nicolas Sanson. The archipelago appears as "I. de los Galopegos".
Amerique Meridionale divisée en ses principales parties ou sont distingués les vns des autres / Nicolas Sanson. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1719. [Wikimedia / British Library]. Download.
1720Visit of the British pirate John Clipperton, in command of the Success. Based on the information gathered during his trip, the British cartographer Herman Moll elaborates, for the South Sea Company, the map A New & Exact Map of the Coast, Countries and Islands within ye Limits of ye South Sea Company, which includes the Galápagos ("the Gallapagos Islands") and, among them, the controversial island "Sta. Maria de l'Aguada".
A New & Exact Map of the Coast, Countries and Islands within ye Limits of ye South Sea Company, from ye River Aranoca to Terra del Fuego, and from thence through ye South Sea, to ye North Part of California &c. / by Herman Moll Geographer. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1720. [Library of Congress]. Download.
Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500-1750 / Kris Lane. 2.ed. New York, London: Routledge, 2016, p. 195.
Timeline [1720]. Check.
1744British cartographer and engraver John Harris includes British pirate William Ambrose Cowley's map of the Galapagos (1684) in his work Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca ["Library of Navigators and Travelers"]. The chart is titled The Gallapagos Islands Discovered and Described by Capt. Cowley in 1684, recovering the original name of the map. The footnote mentions differences between Captains Rogers and Davis, and the existence of an island "Sta. Maria de l'Aguada" that the Spanish knew about but which does not appear on the map (although Herman Moll already included it in his chart, based on Clipperton's voyage, in 1720).
Navigantium atque itinerantium bibliotheca. Or, a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels... / Originally published in two volumes in folio by John Harris ... Now carefully revised... London: Printed for T. Woodward..., 1744, Book 1, pp. 78-79. [Biodiversity Library]. Download.
Timeline [1684]. Check.
The Galapagos appear as "Gallipagos" on the English cartographer Emmanuel Bowen's map entitled A New & Accurate Map of all the known World.
A New & Accurate Map of all the known World drawn from the latest & most authentic surveys assisted by the best & most approved modern maps charts... Published in A Complete System of Geography / by Emanuel Bowen. London: printed for Wiliam Innys [et al.], 1747. [Wikimedia]. Download.
1748The Galapagos Islands appear as "Yas. de Galapagos" in the map Nueva y correcta carta del Mar Pacífico o del Sur: Construida por las mejores noticias de los pilotos de ella, y las más exactas observaciones astronómicas y nauticas el año de 1744 ["New and correct chart of the Pacific or South Sea: constructed by the best news of the pilots of that sea, and the most exact astronomical and nautical observations in the year of 1744"], included in the second part, fourth volume of the Relación... ["Relation..."] by Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa.
Nueva y correcta carta del Mar Pacífico ó del Sur: Construida por las mejores noticias de los pilotos de ella, y las más exactas observaciones astronómicas y nauticas el año de 1744 / [Jorge Juan y Antonio de Ulloa]. [Madrid: Antonio Marin, 1748]. [Biblioteca Virtual del Ministerio de Defensa de España]. Download.
Relacion historica del viage a la America meridional hecho de orden de S. Mag. para medir algunos grados de meridiano terrestre y venir por ellos en conocimiento de la verdadera figura y magnitud de la tierra, con otras varias observaciones astronomicas y phisicas / por don Jorge Juan y don Antonio de Ulloa. Madrid: por Antonio Marin, 1748.
1758Atlas geographico de la América Septentrional y Meridional ["Geographical Atlas of North and South America"] is published, by the Spanish cartographer Tomás López, who includes the Galapagos Islands ("Islas Galapes") in his Mapa General de la América ["General Map of America"].
Atlas geographico de la América Septentrional y Meridional dedicado a la Catholica Sacra Real Magestad... / por ... Thomas Lopez. Madrid: Casa de Antonio Sanz..., 1758, p. 2. [Biblioteca Digital Hispánica]. Download.
1770Alexander Dalrymple's A Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, which includes many of the documented visits of pirate ships to the Galapagos Islands, is published.
A Historical Collection of the several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean / by Alexander Dalrymple, Esq. London : printed for the author; and sold by J. Nourse, T. Payne, and P. Elmsley, 1770-71.
1772Mapa de America: sujeto á las observacionés astronómicas ["Map of the Americas: subject to astronomical observations"] is published by the Spanish cartographer Tomás Lopez, including the Galapagos Islands.
Mapa de America: sujeto á las observacionés astronómicas / por D. Tomás Lopez, Geografo ... Madrid: [n.d.], 1772. [National Library of Australia]. Download.
1787The islands are cited in vol. 2 of the Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales ["Geographical-historical dictionary of the West Indies"] by the Spanish geographer and military officer Antonio de Alcedo y Bejarano. Of them he says: "Islas de la mar del Sur, llamadas también Encantadas, son muchas y de diverso tamaño, las mayores son Mascarin, del Tabaco, del Diablo, de la Salud, de San Barnabá y de Santiago que es la única en que hay agua dulce. El capitán inglés Cowley les puso otros nombres a su arbitrio, llamando a la primera Carlos, la segunda Crossman, la tercera Blindos, la cuarta Eures, la quinta York, la sexta Norfolk…" ["South Sea Islands, also called Enchanted Islands, are many and of different sizes, the largest are Mascarin, Tobacco, Devil, Health, San Barnaba and Santiago, which is the only one with fresh water. The English captain Cowley gave them other names at his discretion, calling the first one Carlos, the second Crossman, the third Blindos, the fourth Eures, the fifth York, the sixth Norfolk..."].
Diccionario geográfico-histórico de las Indias Occidentales o América ... con la descripcion de sus provincias, naciones ... y noticia de los sucesos mas notables de varios lugares... / escrito por ... Antonio de Alcedo. Vol. II. Madrid: Imprenta de Manuel González, 1787.
1790Although some authors cite, for this year, a stopover in Galapagos by the expedition of the Italian explorer Alessandro Malaspina (Scientific and political trip around the world, Malaspina, or Malaspina-Bustamante Expedition) with the ships Descubierta and Atrevida, there are no official records of such a visit. The data on Galapagos presented as a result by the expedition seems to have been acquired from the pilot of a boat that deviated from its route and arrived at the archipelago, as indicated in the travel diary (Book I, chapter VI).
Viaje político-científico alrededor del mundo por las corbetas Descubierta y Atrevida al mando de los capitanes de navío D. Alejandro Malaspina y Don José de Bustamante y Guerra desde 1789 á 1794 / publicado con una introducción por Pedro de Novo y Colson, teniente de navío, académico correspondiente de la Real de la Historia. Segunda edición. Madrid: Imprenta de la Viuda é Hijos de Abienzo, 1885, p. 106. [Real Jardín Botánico]. Download.
Timeline [1790]. Check.
1793Visit of the Spanish captain Alonso María de Torres y Guerra, aboard the war frigate Santa Gertrudis. During it, the first pilot of the ship, Lieutenant Lorenzo Vacaro, elaborates a mediocre map of Galapagos, Carta esferica que comprehende unaparte del Archipielago delos Galapagos... ["Spherical Chart Encompassing Part of the Galapagos Archipelago"], giving the islands Castilian names. These denominations did not last. Interestingly, the note on the map states that it will be completed by "Alexandro Mala Espina".
There is a clean copy of the map, made by Tomás de la Cruz Doblado in 1794.
Carta esferica que comprehende unaparte del Archipielago delos Galapagos desse 1°39' de Latd. Septentrional hta. 1° de la Meridional / ... construída por el Alferez de Fragata Graduado y Primer Piloto Dn Lorenzo Vacaro. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1793. [Biblioteca Virtual del Patrimonio Bibliográfico]. Download.
Carta esferica que comprehende unaparte del Archipielago delos Galapagos. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.]. [Library of Congress]. Download.
Timeline [1793]. Check.
1794The British Captain James Colnett, of the H.M.S. Rattler, finishes his logbook, entitled Log of the Rattler and preserved in the National Archives of the United Kingdom. The report on his voyages in the Pacific, finished in 1795, is published in 1798.
Log of the Rattler, 5 Jan 1793 to 1 Nov 1794 / James Colnett. London: The National Archives, 1794, ADM 55 / 100.
Timeline [1793]. Check.
Timeline [1794]. Check.
The Galapagos Islands appear as "Galapagos or Inchanted Is." on the British cartographer Samuel Dunn's chart A General Map of the World, or Terraqueous Globe, printed by Laurie & Whittle.
A General Map of the World, or Terraqueous Globe with all the New Discoveries and Marginal Delineations, Containing the Most Interesting Particulars in the Solar, Starry and Mundane System / by Saml. Dunn, Mathematician. London: Published by Laurie & Whittle ..., 1794. [Wikimedia]. Download.
Timeline [1794]. Check.
1795Visit of the British Captain George Vancouver's expedition, circumnavigating the globe aboard the H.M.S. Discovery and the H.M.S. Chatham. The visit is poorly described by Vancouver in his diary, and is only referred to in two letters and a report, unpublished to this day.
Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the World in the years 1791-9 / George Vancouver. Volume 3, book 6. London: [n.d.], 1798, pp. 385-389. [Archive.org]. Download.
Timeline [1795]. Check.
The British Captain James Colnett completes his manuscript A Voyage for Whaling and Discovery, which includes his visits to Galapagos in 1793 and 1794, and meant to be published in 1798.
A Voyage for Whaling and Discovery round C. Horn into the Pacific Oceans under Protection of the Right Honorable Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty Performed in the Merchant Ship Rattler by J. Colnett, Lieut. of the R. N. 1793 and 1794 / James Colnett. [N.d.]: [n.d.], 1795, University of Manchester Library, GB 133 Eng Ms. 53.
Timeline [1793]. Check.
Timeline [1794]. Check.
1798The British Captain James Colnett's report on his voyages in the Pacific is published, entitled A Voyage to the South Atlantic and around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean for the purpose of extending the Spermacetic Whaling Fisheries. It includes notes on his stays in Galapagos in 1793 and 1794, and a map made by the British cartographer Aaron Arrowsmith.
A Voyage to the South Atlantic and around Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean for the purpose of extending the Spermacetic Whaling Fisheries and other objects of commerce, by ascertaining the Ports, Bays, Harbours and Anchoring Births, in certain Islands and Coasts in those seas at which ships of the British merchants might be fitted / by Captain James Colnett. London: printed for the author by W. Bennett, 1798, pp. 47-61, 139-161. [Archive.org]. Download.
Chart of the Galapagos, surveyed in the merchant ship Rattler, and drawn by Capt. James Colnett, of the Royal Navy. [N.d.]: [n.d.], [n.d.]. [Wikimedia]. Download.
Timeline [1793]. Check.
Timeline [1794]. Check.
Text & picture: Edgardo Civallero (edgardo.civallero@fcdarwin.org.ec).
Publication date: 1 May 2022
Last update: 1 October 2023