An 1888 photograph captures some of El Progreso’s plantation workers standing in front of their thatched-roof houses on San Cristóbal. The sprawling fields of Manuel J. Cobos’ hacienda can be seen in the background.(National Archives and Records Administration Albatross Expedition NARA-22-FA-90)
There is perhaps no place on Earth that better symbolizes the majesty of a world unmarred by human encroachment than the Galapagos Islands. The remote archipelago lies along the equator in the ea