San Benedicto
| San Benedicto | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Pacific Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Revillagigedo Islands | |
| Geographical location | 19 ° 18 ′ 56 " N , 110 ° 48 ′ 13" W | |
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| length | 4.8 km | |
| width | 2.4 km | |
| surface | 6.124 km² | |
| Highest elevation |
Bárcena 332 m |
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| Residents | uninhabited | |
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San Benedicto (Spanish: Isla San Benedicto ) is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean , 386 km south of the southern tip of Lower California . It is the third largest and most easterly of the Revillagigedo Islands belonging to Mexico and 51.5 km from the neighboring island of Socorro . Politically, the island is part of the Mexican state of Colima , from whose coast it is more than 600 km away.
As the second of the Revillagigedo Islands, San Benedicto was first sighted on December 25, 1533 by the Spanish explorer Hernando de Grijalva on board the San Lázaro , and Inocentes was baptized. In 1542 it was rediscovered by Ruy López de Villalobos and was named La Anublada . In the 19th century in particular, the island was visited by numerous researchers, including Alexander von Humboldt in 1811 .
The island is 4.8 km long, 2.4 km wide and has an area of 6.124 km². The entire south of the island is occupied by the 332 m high volcano Bárcena , the last eruption of which began on August 1, 1952 and only ended on February 24, 1953. Since this eruption, which destroyed almost the entire vegetation of the island, the endemic San Benedicto rock wren ( Salpinctes obsoletus exsul ) has also been considered to be extinct.
San Benedicto Island is part of the 1994 created Biosphere Reserve of the Biosphere "Archipiélago de Revillagigedo" and especially with divers because of numerous there occurring hammerheads (Sphyrnidae) or particularly large manta ray ( Manta birostris popular).
San Benedicto hit the headlines several times because of illegal net fishing - environmental groups also speak of massacres of sharks and manta rays. In March 2002, an absolute fishing ban was therefore imposed on the entire archipelago and the marine units stationed on Socorro were charged with enforcing the ban.
Web links
- CONANP Reserva de la Biosfera "Archipiélago de Revillagigedo" ( Memento of January 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (Spanish)
- Instituto Nacional de Ecología - Reserva de la Biosfera Archipiélago de Revillagigedo (Spanish)
- Revillagigedo Islands Overview on www.seawatch.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Superficie Continental e Insular del Territorio Nacional ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Spanish)
