Q 01/05

The Galápagos Islands are a province of which country?

A) Peru

B) Colombia

C) Ecuador

D) Chile

Answer · why

C) Ecuador

Ecuador formally claimed the islands on 12 February 1832, and they remain the country's Galápagos Province.

Q 02/05

Roughly how far west of the South American mainland do the islands lie?

A) About 200 km (125 mi)

B) About 2,500 km (1,550 mi)

C) About 900 km (560 mi)

D) About 4,000 km (2,500 mi)

Answer · why

C) About 900 km (560 mi)

That is 485 nautical miles, far enough that the islands were never reliably reached by pre-Columbian peoples.

Q 03/05

The 1570 Ortelius map labelled the archipelago 'Insulae de los Galopegos', a name meaning what?

A) Enchanted isles

B) Isles of fire

C) Turtle isles

D) Lizard isles

Answer · why

C) Turtle isles

Herman Melville later called them The Encantadas, the enchanted isles, in his 1854 sketches.

Q 04/05

Who accidentally discovered the islands in 1535?

A) Francisco Pizarro

B) Ambrose Cowley

C) Ferdinand Magellan

D) Bishop Tomás de Berlanga

Answer · why

D) Bishop Tomás de Berlanga

The Bishop of Panama was drifting off course on his way to Peru when the current carried his ship to the islands.

Q 05/05

Charles Darwin visited the islands aboard which ship?

A) HMS Beagle

B) HMS Endeavour

C) HMS Bounty

D) HMS Challenger

Answer · why

A) HMS Beagle

The ship reached the islands on 15 September 1835 and left on 20 October, only five weeks in total.