November 6, 2023 – THEME WEEK DAY 1

Today we’re kicking off a theme week on UNESCO World Heritage Sites! Last week when I talked about Day of the Dead, I mentioned that it had been recognized by UNESCO. Mark had no clue what that was, so I decided we should dedicate an entire week to their list of World Heritage Sites! UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Starting in 1978,  they recognize and provide legal protection for landmarks or areas that have cultural, historical, or scientific significance. Today there are 1,199 recognized sites in 168 countries.
The very first World Heritage Site UNESCO recognized in 1978 was the Galapagos Islands! They’re located in the Eastern Pacific, located around the Equator 560 miles west of South America. The Galapagos are named for their giant tortoises.
The first recorded person to visit the Galapagos was a Spanish noble whose ship was blown off course in 1535 while sailing from Panama to Peru. In later years it was used by Spanish sailors, pirates, and whalers. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Ecuadorians began moving to the Galapagos because of the opportunities in fishing and tourism. Today there are around 25,000 people who live on the 4 inhabitable islands.
The Galapagos are known for the amount of animals, both on land and in the ocean, that are found nowhere else on Earth. These include giant tortoises, flightless cormorants, and marine iguanas, which are the only lizards in the world that swim in the ocean. There are even penguins there! The Galapagos penguins are the only penguins found north of the equator. The islands have their fair share of creepy crawlies too, like the Galapagos Centipede, one of the largest species of centipede in the world. It can be up to a foot long and has been known to feed on lizards and small rats.
In 1835, 26-year-old English naturalist Charles Darwin sailed to the Galapagos about the HMS Beagle. He spent 5 weeks there, observing the wildlife and how they had adapted to the harsh environment. It was here that he famously noted that the island’s finches (which are now known as Darwin’s Finches) had beaks that varied from island to island, depending on conditions and food sources. He used this research as evidence for his theory of evolution by natural selection, which he presented in his book On the Origin of the Species, published in 1859.
Today, 97% of the Galapagos is designated a national park. Galapagos National Park was established in 1959 and protects over 3,000 square miles of islands, while the Galapagos Marine Reserve protects an additional 50,000 square miles of ocean. Learn more here.