Galapagos, beyond the Natural Heritage of Humanity

A study of the penal colonies in the 19th and 20th centuries

Abstract

The article is the result of a research whose objective was to make visible the historical richness of the Galapagos Islands, beyond the natural heritage for which they are known worldwide. To this aim, the study focused on the existence of penal colonies in the nineteenth century, testified in the diary of the painter Ernest Charton in 1849, when he was abandoned on the spot once mutineers the crew of the ship on which he was traveling from Valparaíso to California. This, without neglecting the existing colonies in the twentieth century of which remains as the main vestige, the “wall of tears” built by the “penados” on Isabela Island. The methodological process of the study included archival work in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil, as well as an ethnographic visit to the Isabela Islands and Santa Cruz in order to collect bibliographic and testimonial information. In-depth interviews were conducted with the main actors studying “human history” in the Islands and others referred by them, knowledgeable of the existence of the colonies. The study concludes that the colonies did exist in the Galapagos Islands and that the convicts lived in a kind of an open community guarded by police and military. The inhabitants of the islands are aware of the colonies of the 20th century, although very few know of those of the 19th century. A large number of stories, legends and myths circulate around its existence although without understanding what those meant for the country in the framework of its general history. The article suggests, therefore, the possibility of establishing a museum of memory that makes visible what happened in the penal colonies and launches us to reflect on what they can tell us about the current prison crisis in Ecuador.