Galapagos Islands  Notes  Source  Whalesite

      To the west of Ecuador lie the Galapagos Islands. In 1830, Joseph Villamil, born in New Orleans, United States, in 1789, was making a cruise near the South American coast and touched at the Galapagos. He could not find that they were held or claimed by any nation. He had resided in Ecuador since 1811, had served with credit in the war of independence, both with person and fortune, had married in the country, and had a large family. Therefore, at Guayaquil he formed a company, and November 14, 1831, he applied to the Government of Ecuador, through the prefect of Guayaquil, Vicente R. Roca, suggesting that the government should take possession of the islands, proposing at the same time that one of the islands, which he should select, should be conceded to his company under pledge to colonize it.

      The government accepted Villamil's proposal, and authorized the prefect of Guayaquil to fit out a vessel and take possession of the Galapagos. The expedition was dispatched January 30, 1832, under command of Colonel Hernandez. He arrived at the island of San Carlos, February 9, and found there a number of American whalemen, but landing on the island he took possession of the group, declaring that it should thereafter be called the "Archipielago ecuatoriano." He hoisted the flag of Ecuador and commenced officiating as a justice of the peace.

      On the 19th February he gave the colonizing company possession of the island of San Carlos, and called it the capital of the Archipelago, giving to it the name of Floriana. James Island he renamed, calling it Olmedo, and another having no name he christened Roca.

      Despite what was due to Villamil, President Flores issued a decree March 16, 1833, making the island of Floriana a penal settlement. Twenty years afterwards, the 26th September, 1852, the "national assembly," sitting at Guayaquil declared —

      Legitimate and indisputable the right which the colonizing company and General Villamil, as one of the principal associates, has to the lands of Floriana Island, with exception of the lands necessary for establishments of general utility, and for towns with their respective commons, this being one of the bases of the stipulation; but notwithstanding this the island of San Carlos and its inhabitants shall not be considered emancipated from the rule and eminent domain which the nation has over it; leaving to the general referred to his right against others, that he may be able to exercise before the judicial power whatever action he pleases against his associates.

      Since that date several of the constitutions of Ecuador have designated the Galipagos as a province of the republic, and many laws, decrees of government, and concessions, incident to the archipelago, have indicated that Ecuador claims her title to be good. The government does not pretend that the islands were not previously known, but that "General Villamil discovered, them for Ecuador." He not only did this, but, in the face of many obstacles placed in his way by the government, he, with his energy and own fortune, succeeded in establishing a little colony upon the island of San Carlos, dedicating himself to his enterprise with much intelligence and zeal.

      The first colonists were 80 soldiers who had revolted, and who, through the efforts of Villamil, were prevented from being decimated. He fed them until they produced something for themselves; he gave them lands, seeds, tools, and horses. His Guayaquil associates abandoned him at the start, especially so soon as any money was required, but he threw his little fortune of $50,000 and many years of life into his enterprise. Says an ex finance minister of Ecuador: "All the governments of Ecuador looked with indifference upon the colony, when not with evil spirit or dealing out to it elements of destruction." Under the shameful treatment of the government, the colony disappeared; but until his death, at 80 years of age, General Villamil continued making voyages to the islands with the few men who clung to him and shared his scanty resources.

      The cattle on Floriana having increased greatly, Villamil, in 1845, passed large herds to Chatham and other islands, where they have also much increased.

      The origin of all the cattle to-day existing in the archipelago is the hard work and heavy expenses of Villamil. Everything, in fact, regarding the progress of the islands is due to him, and everything destructive of their progress is due to the Ecuador Government. In the period from 1837 to 1841 the government thoroughly wrecked the colony and drove out Villamil by sending a Col. J. Williams as governor of the archipelago. His atrocities, extortions, and tyrannies, brutal treatment of the colonists and wholesale plundering were such that when, in 1842, Villamil was able to return, there was scarcely a vestige left of his colony, his labors, and his fortune.

      The above data I have gathered from a semi-official pamphlet written February 1, 1877, by F. P. Icaza, who was minister of finance here in 1856. It is in answer to an article published in No. 414 of "El Deber," a newspaper of Valparaiso, attacking Villamil and the claims of Ecuador to the Galapagos Islands.

      In 1853 the Congress of Ecuador, under the belief that great deposits of guano existed in the Galapagos, made several laws regulating the management of that product. This arose from the fact that Villamil and the Hon. Judah P. Benjamin, then Senator of the United States, as attorney for Julio de Brissot, had presented themselves to the government, making explicit denunciations of large beds of guano which they had discovered in various islands of the archipelago. As a result, the government concluded a contract, October 30, 1854, setting aside the part allowed by law to the denouncers of deposits. Mr. Benjamin accompanied the government commissioners detailed to deliver over the guano; but on arrival in the islands none could be found, and the enterprise was abandoned; the government in consequence revoked the decree of October 30, 1854. It is estimated that there are now from 6,000 to 8,000 head of cattle on the island of Floriana, running wild, without care. Occasionally, expeditions of bands of marauders land there and shoot the beasts for the sake of their hides. The land and cattle are still claimed by the children of Villamil, but the Government of Ecuador has no representative in the entire archipelago; nor has it had even a justice of the peace, a corporal's guard, or a policeman there for years.

      The political history of the islands is that an American, General Villamil, with his energies and his fortune occupied the Galapagos for a term of years; that the Government of Ecuador, the assistance of which he claimed, put every obstacle in the way of his efforts at colonization, and that at his death the islands have been practically aban-

doned and have relapsed into the condition in which Villamil found them, excepting an increase of herds from the cattle he sent there. Nothing has been done since Villamil's death to save the wreck which the government made of his splendid sacrifices and perseverance. To my mind the occupation of the Galapagos by Ecuador does not exist to a sufficient extent to entitle it to the respect of other nations.

      Colonel George Earl Church (December 7, 1835 – January 4, 1910), was an American civil engineer and geographer, famous as an explorer of South America. In 1880 he was appointed United States commissioner to report on Ecuador. Wikipedia

George Earl Church.
      "Report of Mr. George Earl Church upon Ecuador."
Presidential message transmitting report of Mr. George Earl Church on Ecuador
Serial Set 2076.
U. S. Senate. Exec Docs, No. 69.
47th Cong 2d session (1882-83}
pp. 52-54

Galapagos Islands  Notes  Source  Whalesite