Revillagigedo Islands

This article covers the Revillagigedo Islands in the Pacific Ocean, which are part of Mexico. For the island belonging to Alaska see Revillagigedo Island .

Revillagigedo Islands
Waters	Pacific Ocean
Geographical location	18 ° 38 ′  N , 112 ° 39 ′  W Coordinates: 18 ° 38 ′  N , 112 ° 39 ′  W
Number of islands	4th
Main island	Socorro
Total land area	157.8 km²
Residents	45
Location of the individual islands

The Revillagigedo Islands are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean . Politically, it belongs to the Mexican state of Colima as part of the Municipio Manzanillo .

The archipelago is around 400 km southwest of the Baja California Peninsula and extends over a length of 420 km. It has a land area of ​​157 km² and consists of the four islands , hereinafter from east to west:

• San Benedicto , 4.8 × 2.4 km, area 5.9 km², height 297 m ( Bárcena )
• Socorro (Santo Tomás), 16.8 × 15.6 km, area 132.1 km², height 1130 m ( Monte Evermann )
• Roca Partida , 91 × 45 m, area 0.3  ha (0.003 km²), height 34 m (Cabeza Conejo)
• Clarión (Santa Rosa), 8.5 × 3.7 km, area 19.8 km², height 335 m ( Monte Gallegos )

The islands are uninhabited, apart from a naval base with a crew of 45 people in the south of the island of Socorro and a small garrison with 9 men on Clarión. The archipelago , also recorded on old maps as Islas de Ladrilleros , is named after Juan Vicente de Güemes , Count of Revillagigedo , the 53rd Viceroy of New Spain .

In 2016, the four islands of the archipelago, together with the surrounding waters, were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as natural heritage sites .

ecology

The islands are characterized by a unique fauna and flora and are sometimes called Mexico's "Little Galapagos". Socorro is the richest in terms of habitat diversity and also in terms of flora and fauna. The Mexican government placed the islands under protection as a biosphere reserve on June 4, 1994. The Revillagigedo Island Marine Reserve is an underwater protected area. The Mexican Navy has been monitoring the protected areas since 1999 to control the fishing ban. The islands are a popular destination for eco-tourists.

The unique habitat of the islands is threatened by introduced species. Sheep were introduced to Socorro around 1869. Even domestic cats and pigs were brought by Navy members on the islands. Various native species are now threatened with extinction by the introduced animals.

cards

Below are historical sea ​​maps of the individual islands in different scales:

• 

  Socorro

• 

  San Benedicto

• 

  Clarión

• 

  Roca Partida

literature

• Victor Busteros Angeles: Expedición al México de Ultramar, 2017, 220 pages, ISBN 978-970-764-960-6 ( online )

Web links

• Instituto Nacional de Ecología - Reserva de la Biosfera Archipiélago de Revillagigedo (Spanish)
• CONANP Reserva de la Biosfera "Archipiélago de Revillagigedo" ( Memento from January 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johann Jakob Egli : Nomina geographica. Language and factual explanation of 42,000 geographical names of all regions of the world. , Friedrich Brandstetter, 2nd edition Leipzig 1893, p. 773
2. ^ Archipiélago de Revillagigedo. UNESCO World Heritage Center, accessed June 8, 2017 .