Floreana

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Floreana (Charles)
View of Floreana
View of Floreana
Waters Pacific Ocean
Archipelago Galapagos Islands
Geographical location 1 ° 17 ′  S , 90 ° 26 ′  W Coordinates: 1 ° 17 ′  S , 90 ° 26 ′  W
Floreana (Galápagos Islands)
Floreana
length 18 km
width 16 km
surface 173 km²
Highest elevation Cerro Pajas
640  m
Residents 100
<1 inh / km²
main place Puerto Velasco Ibarra
Topographic map of the island
Topographic map of the island
Welcome sign
Post Office Bay

Floreana (also Santa María, English Charles ) is one of the smaller islands in the south of the Galápagos Archipelago and politically belongs to Ecuador .

General

The island owes its official name Floreana to Juan José Flores , the first president of Ecuador. The alternative name Santa María is derived from the name of the flagship of Christopher Columbus' first expedition . The English name Charles refers to the English King Charles II.

The island extends over 173 km², its highest peaks, which rise up to 640 m, are remnants of volcanic activity . In 1813, the only time an eruption was observed inside the island. The larger neighboring islands within the Galápagos Archipelago are Isabela (40 km northwest) and Española (50 km east).

colonization

Floreana is one of the four inhabited Galápagos Islands. The reason for the settlement are the two fresh water sources in the interior of the island, which are fed by the precipitation of the so-called Geruanebels , which envelops the island heights even during the dry season.

The island was discovered in March 1535 by the Panamanian bishop Tomás de Berlanga .

The first inhabitants were pirates who used the island as a base and hiding place in the 17th century. At the end of the 18th century, Floreana became a port of call for English whalers . Around 1830, the Ecuadorian government set up a prison camp here, and forty years later an attempt was made to use the dye moss found on the island commercially. The attempt ended in 1870 with the murder of the entrepreneur.

The era of German settlement began in 1929. First, the Berlin dentist Friedrich Ritter and the teacher Dore Strauch settled on the island, which was uninhabited at the time. Both had left their spouses in Germany in order to lead an alternative life on the island, which was far from civilization. They founded a farm they called Frido , lived in a corrugated iron hut and tilled an acre of field. In 1932, the Austrian Eloise Wagner de Bousquet, who described herself as a baroness and later Empress of Galapagos, came to the island. She was accompanied by two lovers of German origin. She brought cows, donkeys and chickens with her. 80 quintals of cement , which were also in their luggage, should be used to build a hotel for American tourists. However, the plans for the Hacienda Paradiso, as the tourism project is called, failed. During the so-called Galápagos Affair in 1934, Eloise Wagner disappeared under mysterious circumstances with one of her companions. The remains of her second companion were later found on the beach on a neighboring island. The dentist Ritter fell victim to meat poisoning. Only Dore Strauch returned to Germany. The Cologne- born couple Heinz and Margaret Wittmer, who landed on the island in 1932, and whose descendants now run a hotel on Floreana, settled down permanently . The colonization by Ecuadorians began only after the Second World War.

Currently , around 100 people live in the only settlement in Floreana, Puerto Velasco Ibarra , mainly from agriculture.

The Ecuadorian Navy also maintains a small base on the island.

Flora and fauna

The vegetation is divided into two parts on Floreana. On the dry sand fringes of the shore region, solstices and beach winds can be found, as well as several types of succulents (cacti) and sesuvia (ground cover). Lush rainforest vegetation prevails on the misty slopes of the remains of the crater.

When Floreana was still uninhabited, the Galápagos giant tortoise with its special Floreana subspecies made its home here. The turtles have now been exterminated by the domestic animals that have been settled by humans and are now feral , while the Galapagos buzzard and the mockingbird have almost been displaced. Large numbers of flamingos can be observed in Punta Cormorant . In the coastal waters, the green sea ​​turtle , sea ​​lions , but also sharks and rays occur.

Attractions

  • Post Office Bay: When Floreana became a port of call for English whaling ships, the crews also used the island as a post office . A large barrel was set up in what is now called the Post Office Bay, into which the ships arriving from Europe dropped letters for their homeland. Returning ships emptied the barrel and took the letters with them for onward transport to Europe. Although whalers no longer dock in Floreana today, the tradition has been preserved. There is still a mail barrel, but now it is used by tourists in the same way as before.
  • Devil's Crown: North of the island, a heavily eroded volcanic cone protrudes from the sea. It is ideal for diving and snorkeling, where you can encounter different corals and a colorful fish fauna with doctor fish and wrasse .

literature

  • Margret Wittmer: Post restante Floreana - experience report of German settlers. ISBN 3-404-61901-3 .
  • Urs-Georg Lange: Dream Island Floreana - Search for Paradise in Galapagos. ISBN 978-3-8448-3250-1 .

Web links

Commons : Floreana  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cecilia Alvear: Coming Soon to a Screen Near You: The Saga of the “Empress” of Galápagos. At: galapagosdigital.com. June 13, 2013, accessed August 23, 2013.
  2. ^ Judith Schalansky: Pocket atlas of the remote islands. Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-19012-6 , p. 158 f.