Santa Fe Island (), also known as Barrington Island, is a small

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of which lies in the middle of the Galápagos Archipelago in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. Visitor access is by a wet landing in Barrington Bay on the northeastern side of the island.

Names

The name is Spanish for "Holy Faith" in reference to

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. The English name ''Barrington Island'' was bestowed in 1794 by James Colnett in honor of Admiral Samuel Barrington, noted for his kindness to the sailors under his commands.

Geography

Santa Fe lies in the middle of the Galápagos Archipelago in

. It is southeast of

Santa Cruz Island Santa Cruz Island (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Isla Santa Cruz'', Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Limuw'') is located off the southwestern coast of Ventura, California, United States. It is the largest island in California and largest of the ei ...

Environment

Geologically, the island is one of the oldest of the archipelago;

volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...

s of about 4 million years old have been found. The vegetation of the island is characterized by brush, palo santo trees and stands of a large

subvariety Subvariety may refer to: * Subvariety (botany) * Subvariety (algebraic geometry) * Variety (universal algebra) In universal algebra, a variety of algebras or equational class is the class of all algebraic structures of a given signature satis ...

of the Galápagos prickly pear cactus, '' Opuntia galapageia'' subvar. ''barringtonensis''. Santa Fe is home to two

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

and two endemic

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

: the Barrington land iguana (''Conolophus pallidus''), the Barrington leaf-toed gecko (''Phyllodactylus barringtonensis''), www.reptile-database.org. the Santa Fe

marine iguana The marine iguana (''Amblyrhynchus cristatus''), also known as the sea iguana, saltwater iguana, or Galápagos marine iguana, is a species of Iguanidae, iguana found only on the Galápagos Islands (Ecuador). Unique among modern lizards, it is a m ...

(''Amblyrhynchus cristatus trillmichi'') and the Santa Fe rice rat (''Aegialomys galapagoensis bauri''). Large numbers of sea lions are found on the beaches of Barrington Bay, occasionally hindering access to the two trails leading from the beach. The island used to have its own, so far undescribed, species of

Galápagos tortoise The Galápagos tortoise or Galápagos giant tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger'') is a very large species of tortoise in the genus ''Chelonoidis'' (which also contains three smaller species from mainland South America). The species comprises 15 subsp ...

, the

Santa Fe tortoise, which became extinct in the mid 19th century because of overexploitation by whalers and settlers. For over 150 years the island had no tortoises. Genetic examination of tortoise bones found on the island showed that its closest relative was the

Hood Island giant tortoise The Hood Island giant tortoise (''Chelonoidis niger hoodensis'') is a subspecies of Galápagos tortoise endemic to Española Island in the Galápagos Islands, Galápagos. Population history This population was very heavily exploited by whalers i ...

(''Chelonoidis hoodensis'') from Española Island (formerly Hood Island). Following a decision made at an international workshop on giant tortoises in 2012, a program was initiated to reestablish a tortoise population on Santa Fe, using the Española Island species as an ecological analogue, or substitute. The tortoises are ecologically important for the island

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

, especially for their role as seed dispersers. Between 2015 and 2021 the Santa Fe Tortoise Project successfully introduced some 700 juvenile and 31 subadult Española tortoises to Santa Fe to complete the

ecological restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

program (which had begun in the 1970s with the eradication of

feral goat The feral goat is the domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') when it has become established in the wild. Feral goats occur in many parts of the world. Species Feral goats consist of many breeds of domestic goats, all of which stem from the wild go ...

s) for the island.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* .

External links

Santa Fe Information Galapagosonline.com
{{Galápagos Islands Islands of the Galápagos Islands Seabird colonies