Cocos Island ( es, Isla del Coco) is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

administered by Costa Rica, approximately southwest of the Costa Rican mainland. It constitutes the 11th of the 13 districts of

Puntarenas Canton Puntarenas is a canton in the Puntarenas province of Costa Rica. The head city is Puntarenas. History Puntarenas was created on 7 December 1848 by decree 167. Geography Puntarenas has an area of km² and a mean elevation of metres. The ...

of the Province of Puntarenas. With an area of approximately , the island is more or less rectangular in shape. It is the southernmost point of geopolitical North America if non-continental islands are included. The entirety of Cocos Island has been designated a Costa Rican National Park since 1978, and has no permanent inhabitants other than Costa Rican park rangers. Surrounded by deep waters with

counter-currents Gregory Johnson (born 1971) is an American white nationalist and advocate for a white ethnostate. He is known for his role as editor-in-chief of the white nationalist imprint Counter-Currents Publishing, which he founded in 2010 with Michael Po ...

, Cocos Island is admired by

scuba Scuba may refer to: * Scuba diving ** Scuba set, the equipment used for scuba (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving * Scuba, an in-memory database developed by Facebook * Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array, either of two in ...

divers for its populations of

hammerhead shark The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks that form the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a cephalofoil. Most hammerhe ...

rays Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

dolphins A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (t ...

and other large marine species. The wet climate and oceanic qualities give Cocos an ecological character that is not shared with either the Galápagos Archipelago or any of the other islands (for example, Malpelo, Gorgona or

Coiba Coiba is the largest island in Central America, with an area of , off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Chiriquí. It is part of the Tolé District of that province. History Coiba separated from continental Panama about 12,000 to ...

) in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Because of the unique ecology of the island and its surrounding waters, Cocos Island National Park became a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 1997. The island can only be reached by sea, which usually takes 36 to 48 hours.

Present status and international distinctions

Orthographic projection centred over Cocos Island

Cocos Island was declared a Costa Rican National Park by means of Executive Decree in 1978 and designated a

in 1997. In 2002, the World Heritage Site designation was extended to include an expanded marine zone of . In addition, it is included in the list of

Wetlands of International Importance A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

New7Wonders of Nature New 7 Wonders of Nature (2007–2011) was an initiative started in 2007 to create a list of seven natural wonders chosen by people through a global poll. It was the second in a series of Internet-based polls led by Swiss-born Canadian Bernard Web ...

by the

New7Wonders of the World The New 7 Wonders of the World was a campaign started in 2000 to choose Wonders of the World from a selection of 200 existing monuments. The popularity poll via free Web-based voting and small amounts of telephone voting was led by Canadian-Swis ...

Foundation, ranking second in the islands category. Thanks to the great diversity of marine life in its waters, Cocos Island was named one of the best 10

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

spots in the world by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors and a "must do" according to diving experts. Popular dive spots around the island are Bajo Alcyone (hammerhead sharks), Manuelina Garden (coral garden) and Dos Amigos Grande (natural underwater arch formation). For many, the main attractions are the large

pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral re ...

species, which are very abundant in this unique meeting point between deep and shallow waters. The largest schools of hammerhead sharks in the world are consistently reported there. Encounters with dozens if not hundreds of these and other large animals are nearly certain in every dive. Smaller and colorful species are also abundant in one of the most extensive

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

s in the southeastern Pacific. Famous oceanographer Jacques Cousteau visited the island several times and in 1994 called it "the most beautiful island in the world". Such accolades have highlighted the urgent need to protect Cocos Island and its surrounding waters from illegal large-scale fishing, poaching and other

threats A threat is a communication of intent to inflict harm or loss on another person. Intimidation is a tactic used between conflicting parties to make the other timid or psychologically insecure for coercion or control. The act of intimidation for co ...

. The only persons allowed to live on Cocos Island are Costa Rican park rangers, who have established two encampments, including one at English Bay. Access by civilians is very limited; tourists and ship crew members are allowed ashore only with permission of island rangers, and are not permitted to camp, stay overnight or collect any flora, fauna or minerals from the island. Occasional amateur radio

DXpedition A DX-pedition is an expedition to what is considered an exotic place by amateur radio operators and DX listeners, typically because of its remoteness, access restrictions, or simply because there are very few radio amateurs active from that pl ...

s are allowed to visit. The island is also very popular in pirate lore. It is said that over 300 expeditions have searched for

buried treasure Buried treasure is a literary trope commonly associated with depictions of pirates, criminals, and Old West outlaws. According to popular conception, these people often buried their stolen fortunes in remote places, intending to return to them ...

there, such as the hoard of Benito Bonito, the

Treasure of Lima The Treasure of Lima is a legendary buried treasure reputedly removed from Lima, Peru, in 1820 and never recovered. It is estimated to be worth up to £160 million or $208 million in today's money. History Spain had controlled Lima since the 16th ...

, and many others. Some small caches have been discovered, leading many to believe that the stories of vast pirate treasures are true, though the majority of searches have been unsuccessful.

Treasure hunting Treasure hunter is the physical search for treasure. For example, treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market for antiquities. The practice of treasure ...

is strictly prohibited by the Costa Rican government and permits are not being issued.

Hermandad Marine Reserve

In 2022 Ecuadorean President

Guillermo Lasso Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza (; born 16 November 1955) is an Ecuadorian businessman, banker, writer and politician who has served as the 47th president of Ecuador since 24 May 2021. He is the country's first centre-right president ...

announced the expansion of the

Galápagos Marine Reserve The Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR) lies a thousand kilometres from the Ecuadorian mainland and covers an area of around . The Galápagos Islands and the surrounding waters represent one of the world’s most unusual ecosystems and are rich areas ...

by 50%, adding to protect submarine mountains northeast of the islands as the Hermandad Marine Reserve. It will connect with the protected area around Cocos Island.

Geology and landscape

Cabanas para guarda parques Isla del Coco

Cocos Island is an oceanic island of both

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

and tectonic origin. It is the only emergent island of the

Cocos Plate The Cocos Plate is a young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. The Cocos Plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when the Farallon Plate ...

, one of the minor

tectonic plates Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...

. Potassium-argon dating established the age of the oldest rocks between 1.91 and 2.44 million years (Late Pliocene)Castillo, P., Batiza, R., Vanko, D., Malavassi, E., Barquero, J., and Fernandez, E. 1988. Anomalously young volcanoes on old hot-spot traces. I. Geology and petrology of Cocos Island. Geological Society of America Bulletin 100: 1400–1414. and it is composed primarily of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

, which is formed by cooling lava. The island is approximately rectangular in shape, measuring about with a perimeter of around . The landscape is mountainous and irregular; the highest point is Cerro Iglesias, at . In spite of its mountainous character, there are flatter areas between in elevation in the center of the island, which are said to be a transitional stage of the geomorphological cycle of V-shaped valleys. Cocos Island has a number of short rivers and streams that drain abundant rainfall into four bays, three of them on the north side (Wafer, Chatham and Weston). The largest rivers are the Genio and the Pittier, which drain their water into Wafer Bay. Sheer, cliffs ring much of the island, preventing convenient access except at a few beaches; the easiest point of entry is at Chatham Bay. The mountainous landscape and the tropical climate combine to create over 200 waterfalls throughout the island. The island’s soils are classified as

entisol Entisols are soils defined in USDA soil taxonomy that do not show any profile development other than an A horizon. An entisol has no diagnostic horizons, and most are basically unaltered from their parent material, which can be unconsolidated sedi ...

s, which are highly acidic and would be easily eroded by the island’s high rainfall on the steep slopes were it not for the dense forest coverage.

Climate

The climate of Cocos Island is mostly determined by the latitudinal movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which creates cloudiness and precipitation that is constant throughout the year. This makes the climate humid and tropical with an average annual temperature of and an average annual rainfall of over . Rainfall remains high throughout the year, although lowers somewhat from January through March and again during late September and October. Numerous oceanic currents from the central

, particularly the North Equatorial Countercurrent, converge on the island and also have an important influence. The island has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: Af).

Ecology

Cocos Island is home to dense

tropical moist forests Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...

. It is the only oceanic island in the eastern Pacific region with such rain forests and their characteristic types of flora and fauna. The cloud forests present at its higher elevations are also unique in the eastern Pacific. The island was never linked to a continent, so the flora and fauna arrived via long-distance dispersal from the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

, and the island therefore has a high proportion of

endemic species Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found elsew ...

Flora

The island has 235 known species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, of which 70 are endemic. A good comprehensive study on the flora of the island is provided in the journal ''Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences''. Additionally, 74 species of

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...

s and

fern allies Fern allies are a diverse group of seedless vascular plants that are not true ferns. Like ferns, a fern ally disperses by shedding spores to initiate an alternation of generations. Classification Originally, three or four groups of plants were ...

( lycopodiophytes and pteridophytes), 128 species of mosses and

liverwort The Marchantiophyta () are a division of non-vascular land plants commonly referred to as hepatics or liverworts. Like mosses and hornworts, they have a gametophyte-dominant life cycle, in which cells of the plant carry only a single set of ...

s, 90 species of

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

and 41 species of slimemolds have been reported. Nevertheless, more exhaustive investigations are expected to reveal many more species. The island has three main plant communities. The coastal forests extend from the coast up to elevation. Purple coral tree ('' Erythrina fusca''), coconut palm (''

Cocos nucifera The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...

''), and pond-apple ('' Annona glabra'') are the predominant trees, with an understory of ferns, shrubs of the

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules a ...

and Solanaceae families, sedges and grasses, and herbaceous plants of the Leguminosae and

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

families. The inland forests extend from elevation. "Palo de hierro" or huriki (''Sacoglottis holdridgei''), "avocado" (''Ocotea insularis'') and the endemic ''Cecropia pittieri'' are the most common canopy trees. The trees are festooned at all levels with epiphytic plants, including

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowerin ...

s, ferns, bromeliads and mosses. The understory includes sedges such as ''Hypolitrum amplum'' and various species of ferns and

tree fern The tree ferns are arborescent (tree-like) ferns that grow with a trunk elevating the fronds above ground level, making them trees. Many extant tree ferns are members of the order Cyatheales, to which belong the families Cyatheaceae (scaly tree ...

s, including ''Cyathea armata'' and '' Danaea media''. The palm ''

Euterpe precatoria ''Euterpe precatoria'' is a tall, slender-stemmed, pinnate-leaved palm native to Central and South America and Trinidad and Tobago. ''E. precatoria'' is used commercially to produce fruits, although ''Euterpe oleracea'' is more commonly cultivate ...

'' is also common. Cloud forests are found at the highest elevations, over , where ''

Melastoma ''Melastoma'' is a genus in the family Melastomataceae. It has over 100 species distributed around Southeast Asia, India, north to Japan, south to Australia and the Pacific Islands. The number of species should probably be reduced according to ...

'' spp. are predominant. The general vegetation of Cocos Island has greatly changed since the island was first named and described by Europeans. Captain Wafer, who visited the island in 1685 and whose name was given to the landing place, describes extensive coconut groves extending inland into the interior of the island.

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000& ...

posited that it was very unlikely that these groves developed naturally, and that pre-European man must once have cleared considerable areas in the ravine bottoms and interior plateaus and ridges, utilizing the clearings for coconut plantations of substantial extent. Heyerdahl theorized that these plantations were used to provide fresh liquid and food for pre-Columbian voyages (made by

balsa ''Ochroma pyramidale'', commonly known as the balsa tree, is a large, fast-growing tree native to the Americas. It is the sole member of the genus ''Ochroma''. The tree is famous for its wide usage in woodworking, with the name ''balsa'' being ...

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

s using ''guara'' navigation) between Guatemala and northwestern South America. After the Spanish conquest and its consequences, these voyages ended and the tropical jungle recovered the land that had been laboriously cleared by early human hands.

Fauna

Terrestrial

The island has over 400 known species of insects, of which 65 (16%) are endemic. The greatest diversity is found among the Lepidoptera and Formicidae. Over 50 species of other arthropods have been described (

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s, centipedes,

millipede Millipedes are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derived from this feature. Each double-legged segment is a resu ...

s, and isopods). Two species of lizard are found on the island, an anole (''Anolis townsendii'') and a gecko (''Sphaerodactylus pacificus''); both are endemic. No amphibians have been reported. Nearly 90 bird species have been reported. The island and neighboring rocks are home to large nesting colonies of migratory

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same enviro ...

s, including the brown booby (''Sula leucogaster''), red-footed booby (''Sula sula''), great frigatebird (''Fregata minor''),

white tern The white tern or common white tern (''Gygis alba'') is a small seabird found across the tropical oceans of the world. It is sometimes known as the fairy tern, although this name is potentially confusing as it is also the common name of '' Sternu ...

(''Gygis alba'') and

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

(''Anous stolidus''). Seven species of land birds inhabit the island, including three endemics: the Cocos cuckoo (''Coccyzus ferrugineus''), Cocos flycatcher (''Nesotriccus ridgwayi'') and

Cocos finch The Cocos finch or Cocos Island finch (''Pinaroloxias inornata'') is the only one of the Darwin's finches not native to the Galápagos Islands, and the only member of the genus ''Pinaroloxias''. Sometimes classified in the family Emberizidae, m ...

(''Pinaroloxias inornata''). The island has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International. The island has no native land mammal species, but humans have introduced five: pigs, deer, goats, cats, and rats. Because they harm the local ecosystems, they are the subject of control efforts.

Marine

The rich coral reef, volcanic tunnels, caves, massifs and deeper waters surrounding Cocos Island are home to more than 30 species of coral, 60 species of crustaceans, 600 species of molluscs and over 300 species of fish. These include large populations of

yellowfin tuna The yellowfin tuna (''Thunnus albacares'') is a species of tuna found in pelagic waters of tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. Yellowfin is often marketed as ahi, from the Hawaiian , a name also used there for the closely related bigeye ...

(''Thunnus albacares''),

giant manta The giant oceanic manta ray, giant manta ray, or oceanic manta ray (''Mobula birostris'') is a species of batoidea, ray in the family (biology), family Mobulidae, and the largest type of ray in the world. It is circumglobal and is typically found ...

s (''Manta birostris''),

sailfish The sailfish is one or two species of marine fish in the genus ''Istiophorus'', which belong to the family Istiophoridae ( marlins). They are predominantly blue to gray in colour and have a characteristically large dorsal fin known as the ...

(''Istiophorus platypterus'') and

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

s, such as

whitetip reef shark The whitetip reef shark (''Triaenodon obesus'') is a species of requiem shark, in the family Carcharhinidae, and the only member of its genus. A small shark that does not usually exceed in length, this species is easily recognizable by its slen ...

(''Triaenodon obesus'') and

scalloped hammerhead shark The scalloped hammerhead (''Sphyrna lewini'') is a species of hammerhead shark in the family Sphyrnidae. It was originally known as ''Zygaena lewini''. The Greek word ''sphyrna'' translates into "hammer" in English, referring to the shape of thi ...

(''Sphyrna lewini''). The largest of all species of fish is also present, the

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

(''Rhincodon typus''). In December 2017, a female

tiger shark The tiger shark (''Galeocerdo cuvier'') is a species of requiem shark and the last extant member of the family Galeocerdonidae. It is a large macropredator, capable of attaining a length over . Populations are found in many tropical and tempera ...

(a species that returned to the waters of Isla del Coco in 2012, after 30 years of not being seen in the area) killed New Yorker Rohina Bhandari while she was scuba diving in Manuelita in the Isla del Coco National Park. Other large marine animals include

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hu ...

s (''Megaptera novaeangliae''),

orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...

s (''Orcinus orca''),

pilot whale Pilot whales are cetaceans belonging to the genus ''Globicephala''. The two extant species are the long-finned pilot whale (''G. melas'') and the short-finned pilot whale (''G. macrorhynchus''). The two are not readily distinguishable at sea, ...

s (''Globicephala macrorhynchus''), bottlenose dolphins (''Tursiops truncatus'') and

sea lions Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...

(''Zalophus californianus''). There are also reptiles:

hawksbill turtle The hawksbill sea turtle (''Eretmochelys imbricata'') is a critically endangered sea turtle belonging to the family Cheloniidae. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Eretmochelys''. The species has a global distribution, that is lar ...

s (''Eretmochelys imbricata''),

green turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exten ...

s (''Chelonia mydas'') and

olive ridley turtle The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in th ...

s (''Lepidochelys olivacea'').

Habitats threatened

The island's largely unperturbed habitats are, nonetheless, under growing human pressure. Illegal

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

of large marine species in and around its protected waters has become a main concern. Growing local and worldwide demand for tuna,

shark fin soup Shark fin soup is a traditional soup or stewed dish served in parts of China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The shark fins provide texture, while the taste comes from the other soup ingredients. It is commonly served at special occasions such as ...

and other seafood is threatening the island's fragile ecosystems. The government of Costa Rica has been openly accused of passivity and even benefiting corruptly from illegal shark fin and other seafood trade to large markets, such as China and other Asian countries. The government has shown some willingness to protect the island's natural riches and prosecute poachers. However, efforts to effectively patrol the waters and enforce environmental laws face big financial and bureaucratic difficulties, as well as being prone to the corruption of local, national and international authorities. Recent events show that large-scale illegal poaching keeps happening. Despite initial hope in stopping and charging poachers, who have been caught with abundant evidence, they have often been quickly released under suspicious circumstances. Also, efforts to raise funds for protection have been dwarfed. Marvin Orlando Cerdas, a judge with the local Puntarenas Court of Justice, obscurely allowed 22 poachers caught red-handed to escape the country. Also under highly suspicious and allegedly corrupt circumstances, District Attorney Michael Morales Molina stopped the auction for public benefit of confiscated goods immediately after the spokesman of the large illegal poaching ship ''Tiuna'' simply made the request.

History

Prehistory

The island is believed to have been uninhabited by humans prior to European discovery. However, there has been little archaeological investigation into

oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

eastern Pacific islands, including Cocos Island. This is due to the fragile environments on such islands, which for many years have been untouched by humans, and because these islands are at a considerable distance from islands that had

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

n populations. Likewise, Indigenous Americans on the west coast of the continent were not known to inhabit any remote eastern Pacific islands. In 2008, Cocos Island, the

Desventuradas Islands The Desventuradas Islands ( es, Islas Desventuradas, , "Unfortunate Islands" or ''Islas de los Desventurados'', "Islands of the Unfortunate Ones") is a group of four small oceanic islands located off the coast of Chile, northwest of Santiago in ...

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands (Spanish: , , ) are an archipelago of volcanic islands. They are distributed on each side of the equator in the Pacific Ocean, surrounding the centre of the Western Hemisphere, and are part of the Republic of Ecuador ...

and

Juan Fernández Islands The Juan Fernández Islands ( es, Archipiélago Juan Fernández) are a sparsely inhabited series of islands in the South Pacific Ocean reliant on tourism and fishing. Situated off the coast of Chile, they are composed of three main volcanic i ...

(all uninhabited when discovered by Europeans) were surveyed by archaeologists from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

. Their investigation found that the Galápagos Islands may have been visited by a Polynesian vessel, and it is unclear what their findings were for Cocos Island.

Discovery and early cartography

In his ''Historia general y natural de las Indias'' (1535, expanded in 1851 from his previously unpublished papers),

Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (August 14781557), commonly known as Oviedo, was a Spanish soldier, historian, writer, botanist and colonist. Oviedo participated in the Spanish colonization of the West Indies, arriving in the first few year ...

discusses the discovery of the island by his contemporary, Spanish navigator Juan de Cabezas (also known as Juan de Grado), in 1526. D. Lievre, ''Una isla desierta en el Pacífico; la isla del Coco'' in ''Los viajes de Cockburn y Lievre por Costa Rica'' (1962: 134) tells that the first document with the name "Isle de Coques" is a map painted on

parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...

, called that of Henry II, that appeared in 1542 during the reign of

Francis I of France Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin on ...

. The

planisphere In astronomy, a planisphere () is a star chart analog computing instrument in the form of two adjustable disks that rotate on a common pivot. It can be adjusted to display the visible stars for any time and date. It is an instrument to assist ...

of Nicolas Desliens (1556, Dieppe) places this ''Ysle de Coques'' about one and a half degrees north of the Equator.

Willem Blaeu Willem Janszoon Blaeu (; 157121 October 1638), also abbreviated to Willem Jansz. Blaeu, was a Dutch cartographer, atlas maker and publisher. Along with his son Johannes Blaeu, Willem is considered one of the notable figures of the Netherlandis ...

's ''Grand Atlas'', originally published in 1662, has a colour world map on the back of its front cover which shows ''I. de Cocos'' right on the Equator. Frederik De Witt's ''Atlas, 1680'' shows it similarly. The '' Hondius Broadside map'' of 1590 shows ''I. de Cocos'' at 2 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude, while in 1596 Theodore de Bry showed the Galápagos Islands near 6 degrees north of the Equator.

Emanuel Bowen Emanuel Bowen (1694 – 8 May 1767) was a Welsh map engraver, who achieved the unique distinction of becoming Royal Mapmaker to both to King George II of Great Britain and Louis XV of France. Bowen was highly regarded by his contemporaries for p ...

, in ''A Complete system of Geography'', Volume II (London, 1747: 586), states that the Galápagos islands stretch 5 degrees north of the Equator. The island in modern times has been thickly overgrown with jungle. "That the island formerly merited its descriptive name, however, is apparent from the verbal accounts given to Captain Dampier by the contemporary Spanish discoverers. Dampier writes: 'The Island Cocos is so named by the Spaniards, because there are abundances of Coco-Nut Trees growing on it'...prehistoric planters must have found the location of Cocos Island worthy of the vast amount of labor spent in clearing the natural jungle for the planting of coconuts...make it an ideal port of call for aboriginal merchants trafficking the open sea off Panama. With the notable exception of the Galápagos Islands, there was a lack of scientific research into oceanic eastern Pacific islands prior to the 20th century. Publication ''The American Naturalist'' stated in 1891, "we know nothing at all about the fauna and flora of the isolated

Clipperton Island Clipperton Island ( or ; ) is an uninhabited, coral atoll in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is from Paris, France, from Papeete, Tahiti, and from Mexico. It is an overseas state private property of France under direct authority of the Minis ...

and Malpelo; we hardly know anything about Cocos Island, which seems to be in many respects quite different from the others, having a more tropical appearance."

Administrative history

Cocos Island was annexed by Costa Rica in 1832 by decree No. 54 of the Constitutional Assembly of the newly independent country.

Whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

s stopped regularly at Cocos Island until the mid-19th century, when inexpensive

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

started to replace whale oil for lighting. In October 1863, the ship ''Adelante''

marooned Marooned may refer to: * Marooning Marooning is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a desert island, or more generally (usually in passive voice) to be marooned is to be in a place from which one cannot escape ...

426 Tongan former slaves on the island when it was discovered that they had contracted

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

and were a danger to her crew. By the time the vessel ''Tumbes'' arrived to rescue them one month later, only 38 survivors were found, the rest having perished from smallpox (see

ʻAta Ata is a depopulated island in the far southern end of the Tonga archipelago, situated approximately south-southwest of Tongatapu. It is distinct from Atā, an uninhabited, low coral island in the string of small atolls along the Piha passag ...

). In 1897, the Costa Rican government named the German adventurer and treasure hunter

August Gissler August Gissler (9 September 1857 in Remscheid – 8 August 1935 in New York City) was a German adventurer and treasure hunter who, with brief interruptions, lived on Cocos Island (Costa Rica) from 1889 until 1908. Gissler's aim was to find the Go ...

the first Governor of Cocos Island and allowed him to establish a short-lived colony there. On May 12, 1970, the insular territory of Cocos Island was incorporated administratively by means of Executive Decree No. 27, making it the eleventh

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas canton of Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which is made from the Puntarenas, Chacarita and ...

canton of the Puntarenas Province. As a district, the island has the postal code of 60110. The island's 33 residents, all of them Costa Rican park rangers, were allowed to vote for the first time in Costa Rica's February 5, 2006, election. However, the rangers are not considered permanent residents of the district, therefore the census data considers the island to be uninhabited.

Piracy and hidden treasures

Cocos Island has featured heavily in many tales of pirate lore and

. The first claims of treasure buried on the island came from a woman named Mary Welch, who claimed that 350 tons of gold (about $16 billion in today's money) raided from Spanish galleons had been buried on the island by Captain Bennett Graham, a naval officer who had become a pirate in 1818. She had been a member of a pirate crew led by Captain Graham, and was transported to an Australian penal colony for her crimes. She possessed a chart showing where Graham's treasure was supposed to be hidden. On her release, she returned to the island with an expedition but had no success in finding anything, as the points of reference in the chart had disappeared. Another pirate supposed to have buried treasure on the island was the Portuguese

Benito Bonito Benito may refer to: Places * Benito, Kentucky, United States * Benito, Manitoba, Canada * Benito River, a river in Equatorial Guinea Other uses * Benito (name) * ''Benito'' (1993), an Italian film See also * '' Benito Cereno'', a novella by ...

, who began terrorizing the west coast of the Americas around 1818. Though Bonito was hunted down and executed, his treasure was never retrieved. Perhaps the best-known of the treasure legends tied to the island is that of the fabled

. In 1820, with the army of

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (25 February 177817 August 1850), known simply as José de San Martín () or '' the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru'', was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and centr ...

approaching

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...

, Viceroy

José de la Serna José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

is supposed to have entrusted treasure from the city to British trader Captain William Thompson for safekeeping until the

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both in ...

could secure the country. Instead of waiting in the harbor as they were instructed, Thompson and his crew killed the viceroy's men and sailed to Cocos, where they allegedly buried the treasure. Shortly afterwards, they were apprehended by a Spanish warship. All of the crew except Thompson and his first mate were executed for piracy. The two said they would show the Spaniards where they had hidden the treasure in return for their lives, but after landing on Cocos, they escaped into the forest and were never recaptured. Hundreds of attempts to find treasure on the island have failed. Several early expeditions were mounted on the basis of claims by a man named Keating, who was supposed to have befriended Thompson. On one trip, Keating was said to have retrieved gold and jewels from the treasure.MacInnis, pp. 29–30. German adventurer

lived on the island for most of the period from 1889 until 1908, hunting the treasure, but only found a few gold coins.

In fiction

The book ''Desert Island'' proposed the highly detailed theory that Daniel Defoe used the Isla del Coco as an accurate model for his descriptions of the island inhabited by the marooned

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

. However, Defoe placed Crusoe's island not in the Pacific, but rather off the coast of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

in the Atlantic Ocean. Robinson's neighbouring '' Terra Firma'' is shown on the colour map of Joannes Jansson (Amsterdam) depicting the northeastern corner of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, entitled ''Terra Firma et Novum Regnum Granatense et Popayan''. It belongs to the early group of plates printed by

from 1630 onwards. The property called Terra Firma was the

Isthmus of Darien An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

. The stories of pirates and buried treasure associated with the island are reputed to have been the inspiration for the novel ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

'', by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

References

External links

Cocos Island National Park institutional website
*

{{Authority control Pacific islands of Costa Rica National parks of Costa Rica World Heritage Sites in Costa Rica Uninhabited islands of Costa Rica Neotropical tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests Marine ecoregions Protected areas established in 1978 Former populated places in Costa Rica Ramsar sites in Costa Rica Geography of Puntarenas Province Tourist attractions in Puntarenas Province Pirate treasure Districts of Puntarenas Province Important Bird Areas of Costa Rica Important Bird Areas of Oceania Tropical Eastern Pacific