Genovesa Island
Genovesa Island (Spanish: Isla Genovesa), also known as Tower Island, is a shield volcano in the Galápagos Islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean.[1] The island occupies about 14 km2 (5 sq mi), and its maximum elevation is 64 m (210 ft). The horse-shoe shaped island has a volcanic caldera whose wall has collapsed, forming the Great Darwin Bay, surrounded by cliffs.[2] The saltwater Lake Arcturus lies in the middle, and sediment within this crater lake is less than 6,000 years old. Although no historical eruptions are known from Genovesa, there are very young lava flows on the flanks of the volcano.
Geography
Galápagos Islands
64 m (210 ft)
Santa María
Names[edit]
Genovesa is Spanish for "Genovese", named after the Italian city of Genoa in honor of its native son Christopher Columbus. The name was adopted in 1892 as part of Ecuador's celebration of the quadricentennial of Columbus's first voyage. It was previously known as Quita Sueño,[3] Spanish for "Nightmare Island".[4]
The English pirate William Ambrosia Cowley charted it as Eures's Island in 1684, which later became Eure[5] or Eures Island[6] The origin of this name is uncertain, with two suggestions being William Ewres of Jamaica and Ralph Eure, 8th Baron Eure.[5]
The name Tower Island is believed to be a corruption of Lt. John Downes, an American serving on the frigate Essex who recorded the island's position in 1813 during the War of 1812. The name Dowers's Island appeared in 1815, presumably in misspelled reference to Downes, and—after passing through Dowers's, Dowers, and Tower's—it was finally written as Tower on an Admiralty chart in 1841.[a]
The island is also sometimes known as Bird Island, from its large and varied colonies.