Juan Fernandez
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The Juan Fernandez archipelago is located 670 km off the coast of Chile, and is composed of the volcanic islands Robinson Crusoe and Alejandro Selkirk, and the islet Santa Clara. It is mainly known for having been the home to the sailor Alexander Selkirk for four years, which fact inspired the novel Robinson Crusoe.
The archipelago administratively belongs to V Region of ValparaÃÂÃÂso.
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2 Ecology 3 Population 4 External Link |
History
The archipelago was discovered by the Spanish sailor Juan FernÃÂández, probably between 1563 and 1574. In the 17th and 18th century it was used as an hide-out for pirates.
In 1966 the Chilean government renamed Isla Mas Afuera to Alejandro Selkirk and Isla Mas a Tierra to Robinson Crusoe, in order to promote tourism. Incidentally, Selkirk never set foot on Mas Afuera, only on Mas a Tierra.
Ecology
The Juan Fernandez islands are home to a high percentage of rare and endemic plants and animals, and are recognized as a distinct ecoregion. There are 209 native species of vascular plants in the Juan Fernandez Islands, of which 126 are endemic. The closest relatives of the archipelago's plants and animals are found in the Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forests ecoregions of southern South America, including the Valdivian temperate rain forests, Magellanic subpolar forests, and Desventuradas Islands. Many plants are part of the Antarctic flora, and are related to plants found in southern South America, New Zealand and Australia. Robinson Crusoe Island is home to an endemic and endangered hummingbird, the Juan Fernandez Firecrown (Sephanoides fernandensis). This large hummingbird, about 11 cm (5 in) long, is thought to number only about 500 individuals.
The Juan Fernandez fur seal (Arctocephalus philippii) lives on the islands. This species was nearly exterminated in the sixteenth to nineteenth century, but it was rediscovered in 1965. A census in 1970 indicated about 750 fur seals present in the Archipelago. Only two were sighted on the Desventuradas Islands. The actual population of the Desventuradas may be higher, because the species tends to hide in sea caves. There seems to be a yearly population increase of 16-17%.
Population
2002, 630; 2004, 340External Link
Human impact on vegetation of the Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile