How many of the Galapagos Islands are inhabited by humans?

The Galápagos are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean.The islands are known for their large number of endemic species that were studied by Charles Darwin contributing to Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection.

Only four of the thirteen major islands have human inhabitants with a population of slightly over 25,000: Santa Cruz, San Cristobal, Isabela and Floreana. The remainder of the Galapagos Islands is a national park.

The first inhabitants were convicts brought by General José de Villamil, in October 1832, some artisans and farmers joined them.

José Valdizán and Manuel Julián Cobos began exploiting of a type of lichen found in the islands. Valdizán was assassinated and Cobos brought more than a hundred workers to start a sugar cane plantation which he ruled with an iron hand, leading to his assassination in 1904.

In the 1920s and 1930s, a small wave of European settlers arrived in the islands. Ecuadorian laws provided all colonists with twenty hectares each of free land, the right to maintain their citizenship, freedom from taxation for the first ten years, and the right to hunt and fish freely on all uninhabited islands where they might settle. The first colonists to arrive were Norwegians. Colonists from Europe, America and Ecuador followed, seeking a simpler life. Descendants of Norwegian and German settlers still live on the islands.