Santa Cruz Island, also known as Indefatigable Island and by other names, is the most populous and second-largest island in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador. Situated in the middle of the group, Santa Cruz is a shield volcano with an area of 986 km2 and a maximum altitude of 864 m. 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 (Isla or Ysla San Clemente) in honor of St. Clement. This was changed to Bolivia Island (Isla Bolivia) 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 (Isla Chávez). 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 32 km long and 40 km wide. It has an area of 986 km2 and a maximum altitude of 864 m. 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 2000 m 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" (Los Gemelos).

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.

Climate

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

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.

Citations