About Galapagos
Five million years ago volcanoes erupted from beneath the Pacific Ocean. Magma exploded and rocks uplifted to create a ring of 13 islands, 17 islets, and 47 reefs 600 miles distributed around the equator, 965 kilometres (about 600 miles) west of continental Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean (1° S 91° W). The Galápagos archipelago is a province of Ecuador, a country in northwestern South America, and the islands are all part of Ecuador's national park system.
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador