The islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 973 km (605 mi) off the west coast of South America. The majority of islands are also more broadly part of the South Pacific. The closest land mass is that of mainland Ecuador, the country to which they belong, 926 km (500 nmi) to the east.


Orthographic projection centered over the Galápagos.

School of scalloped hammerheads, Wolf Island, Galápagos Islands.

Grapsus grapsus on the rocks.

Satellite photo of the Galápagos islands overlaid with the names of the visible main islands.

Isabela seen from Spot Satellite.

Waved albatrosses on Española.

Galápagos marine iguana.

Main Street on San Cristóbal Island.
An animated tour of the Galápagos.
NASA oceanographer Gene Carl Feldman reflects on his unique perspective on this region.
The islands are found at the coordinates 1°40'N–1°36'S, 89°16'–92°01'W. Straddling the equator, islands in the chain are located in both the northern and southern hemispheres, with Volcán Wolf and Volcán Ecuador on Isla Isabela being directly on the equator. Española Island, the southernmost islet of the archipelago, and Darwin Island, the northernmost one, are spread out over a distance of 220 km (137 mi). The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) considers them wholly within the South Pacific Ocean, however The Galápagos Archipelago consists of 7,880 km2 (3,040 sq mi) of land spread over 45,000 km2 (17,000 sq mi) of ocean. The largest of the islands, Isabela, measures 2,250 square miles (5,800 km2)and makes up close to three-quarters of the total land area of the Galápagos. Volcán Wolf on Isabela is the highest point, with an elevation of 1,707 m (5,600 ft) above sea level.

The group consists of 18 main islands, 3 smaller islands, and 107 rocks and islets. The islands are located at the Galapagos Triple Junction. The archipelago is located on the Nazca Plate (a tectonic plate), which is moving east/southeast, diving under the South American Plate at a rate of about 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) per year.It is also atop the Galápagos hotspot, a place where the Earth's crust is being melted from below by a mantle plume, creating volcanoes. The first islands formed here at least 8 million and possibly up to 90 million years ago.

While the older islands have disappeared below the sea as they moved away from the mantle plume, the youngest islands, Isabela and Fernandina, are still being formed. In April 2009, lava from the volcanic island Fernandina started flowing both towards the island's shoreline and into the center caldera.

In late June 2018, Sierra Negra, one of five volcanoes on Isabela and one of the most active in the Galapagos archipelago, began erupting for the first time since 2005. Lava flows made their way to the coastline, prompting the evacuation of about fifty nearby residents and restricting tourist access.
Where is Galapogas Island located? What is the area of Galapogas? How many islands are there in total? When was the first island formed? What are few Volcanos in Galapogas?
The islands are located in the eastern Pacific Ocean, 973 km off the west coast of South America. The islands are found at the coordinates 1°40'N–1°36'S, 89°16'–92°01'W

7,880 km2 of land is the total area of Galapogos Island.

The group consists of 18 main islands, 3 smaller islands.

The first islands formed here at least 8 million and possibly up to 90 million years ago

Sierra Negra is one of the five volcanoes.