Original: The Galápagos Islands ( official name : Archipiélago de Colón ; other Spanish names : Islas de Colón or Islas Galápagos ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean , 972 km west of continental Ecuador .
Simplified: The Galápagos Islands ( Archipiélago de Colón in Spanish ) are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean belonging to Ecuador .