Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos)

Santa Cruz Island (Galápagos)
Santa Cruz Island, also known as Indefatigable Island and by other names, is the most populous and second-largest island in the Galapagos Archipelago in Ecuador. Situated in the middle of the group, Santa Cruz is a shield volcano with an area of and a maximum altitude of . The seat of Santa Cruz Canton is Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. The island's total population is around 18,000 with those living in smaller villages chiefly working in agriculture and cattle raising.
Names
The island's original Spanish name was San Clemente Island (or ) in honor of St. Clement. This was changed to Bolivia Island in honor of the South American revolutionary hero Simón Bolívar upon the islands' annexation by Ecuador in 1832 and then to Santa Cruz ("Holy Cross") in reference to the cross upon which Jesus was crucified during the 1892 renaming of the islands upon the quadricentennial of Christopher Columbus's first voyage. It was also sometimes known as Chavez Island.
The English pirate William Ambrosia Cowley named the island the Duke of Norfolk's Island in 1684, later shortened to Norfolk Island, in honor of either Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, or his son Henry, the 7th Duke of Norfolk, or possibly both. It was later renamed Indefatigable Island in honor of the third-rate ship of the line HMS Indefatigable, which distinguished itself during the Napoleonic Wars and later saw service in the Royal Navy's South America squadron.
Geography
Santa Cruz is an oval-shaped island long and wide. It has an area of and a maximum altitude of . Santa Cruz is the second-largest island after Isabela.
Geology
The island is a shield volcano. Its summit contains a shallow caldera that has been largely buried by youthful pit craters and cinder cones with well-preserved craters. The most recent eruptions may have occurred only a few thousand years ago with the effusion of sparsely vegetated lava flows from vents on the north flank and along the summit fissure. A gigantic lava tube measuring over long is a tourist attraction on the island. As a testimony to its volcanic history there are two big holes formed by the collapse of a magma chamber known as "The Twins".
Plant life
Tortuga Bay is located on the Santa Cruz Island near Puerto Ayora where fauna such as marine iguanas, birds, Galapagos crabs can be seen. There is also a mangrove where white tip reef sharks and the gigantic Galápagos tortoises can be sighted.
Demographics
Santa Cruz hosts the largest human population in the archipelago at the town of Puerto Ayora, with a total of 18,000 residents on the island.
Points of interest
Charles Darwin Research Station
Headquarters of the Galápagos National Park Service
Lava tunnels
El Chato and Rancho Primicias Giant Tortoise Reserves
Itabaca Channel
Black Turtle Cove
Cerro Dragón
Tortuga Bay
Playa El Garrapatero
Los Gemelos
Stand of Scalesia - daisy trees
Sister cities
On June 19, 2002, the cities of Seabrook, Texas and Santa Cruz Island finalized a sister city status during a ceremony at Seabrook City Hall.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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Islands of the Galápagos Islands
Calderas of the Galápagos Islands
Polygenetic shield volcanoes