San Cristobal. This is what happened in Galapagos (and in Hawaii and some other places on the globe). Santiago. South Plaza. Genovesa. The Earth’s crust moved over the hot spot, and the resulting volcanoes formed the islands. Santa Cruz. North Seymur. Floreana. The islands became internationally famous as a result of their being visited in 1835 by Charles Darwin; their unusual fauna contributed to his groundbreaking theories on natural selection. The Galápagos Islands were the source of Darwin’s theory of evolution and remain a priceless living laboratory for scientists today. List of islands, animals, flora, and visitors sites in the Galapagos Bartolome. Isabela. Baltra. Rabida. The Galapagos are a group of around 20 islands located far off the shore of Ecuador and home to an astonishingly beautiful and diverse collection of landscapes, flora and wildlife like nowhere else on Earth. Galapagos Islands, island group of the eastern Pacific Ocean, administratively a province of Ecuador. Six hundred miles off the coast of Ecuador lie the volcanic islands of the Galápagos, famous for a wealth of unique plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Cruising the islands, you’ll immediately … Santa Fe. Fernandina. Española. The Galapagos Islands were formed by what Geologists call a “hot spot”, a place in Earth where the magma is hotter than its regular temperature.