The Galápagos Islands are often regarded as the crucible of evolutionary theory, the natural laboratory in which Darwin began to visualize the process of speciation. They attract hundreds of thousands of tourists each year who visit to experience a pristine environment populated by endemic species like giant tortoises and marine iguanas. Historical Ecology and Archaeology in the Galápagos Islands: A Legacy of Human Occupation challenges this image of the archipelago as an isolated landscape free of human influence by tracing its role in a globalizing world over the last 500 years, with a particular focus on Hacienda El Progreso, a sugar plantation established on the island of San Cristóbal in the 1860s.

Spanish mariners first reached the archipelago accidentally during the mid-sixteenth century; this was followed by frequent visits for provisioning and ship repair. In subsequent years, pirates, whalers, and sealers all made stops on the islands to hunt both local and feral introduced species and to take on water and other supplies. Chapter 2 outlines the ways in which these different global industries created webs of relations in which the islands were embedded and how these shifted over time. A turning point occurred with the archipelago’s annexation by Ecuador in 1832, after which small settlements were attempted, often by Ecuadorian convicts but sometimes by people from as distant as Norway. At that point, the introduction of domesticated species began in earnest, and rats, goats, dogs, donkeys, cattle, blackberries, and guava trees soon overran the islands.

At the heart of this book is the examination of Hacienda El Progreso, an industrial sugar plantation developed by the Ecuadorian Manuel Cobos. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the ecology of San Cristóbal followed by a history of Cobos’s enterprises on the island. After decades of engaging in resource extraction, in 1879 he began to expand the cattle pastures and sugar plantings at the hacienda while maintaining interests in a wide variety of other exports. He constructed a large house, shelters for 50 or so indentured workers and a roughly equal number of day laborers, and buildings for the production of sugar, alcohol, and cattle products. Working and living conditions were abysmal, and Cobos ruled over the settlement despotically until his workers assassinated him in 1904.

Chapters 4 and 5 focus on the material culture and ecofacts associated with the hacienda. The authors describe the excavations and mapping that were conducted at the townsite, house, and associated infrastructure, and they briefly review its extant industrial features. Analyses of archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological remains are also discussed. The faunal materials provide information primarily about diet and the processing of cattle for local consumption and export, whereas the floral material is used to explore diet and the broader ecological impact of colonization on the landscape. Perhaps most impactful with regard to the book’s thesis is a series of repeat photographs that juxtapose historic images with the same locations today. These clearly demonstrate the degree to which the landscape had been transformed by the late nineteenth century, as well as the radical changes occurring since then. Chapter 5 centers on the artifacts recovered during the project: the assemblage consists primarily of goods produced in Europe and the United States, reflecting Cobos’s commitment to modern notions of consumerism despite the physical isolation of the archipelago.

The final chapter brings the human story of the Galápagos up to the present with the creation of a national park and the development of ecotourism. The population living on San Cristóbal has increased and shifted to the coast, and agriculture has been largely abandoned, with imported food sustaining both tourists and locals.

Historical Ecology and Archaeology in the Galápagos Islands provides a fascinating history of the archipelago and of San Cristóbal in particular: it illustrates the role that this iconic place has played in an evolving web of economic relations since its discovery in the sixteenth century. It also raises the question of how this park should be managed given the far-reaching effects of human use, particularly the introduction of invasive species; this issue, however, could have been addressed more explicitly.

Overall, the authors do a remarkable job of synthesizing diverse datasets to tell the story of human–environment interaction in Galápagos. The book also makes a welcome addition to the scant literature on Republican-era haciendas in Latin America, offering a case shaped by global forces but unique to this special place.