| Marchena Island (Bindloe Island) | |
| Map: | Ecuador Galápagos Islands |
| Label: | Marchena Island |
| Label Position: | right |
| Coordinates: | 0.35°N -90.5°W |
| Location: | Galápagos Islands, Ecuador |
| Archipelago: | Galápagos Islands |
| Country: | Ecuador |
| Country Admin Divisions Title: | Province |
| Country Admin Divisions: | Galápagos Province |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 1: | Canton |
| Country Admin Divisions 1: | Santa Cruz |
| Country Admin Divisions Title 2: | Parish |
Marchena Island (es|Isla Marchena) is one of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. It has an area of 130km2 and reaches an elevation of 343m (1,125feet) above sea level. The island does not receive visitors, although the surrounding water is used by aquatic divers on organized tours. People generally see the island as they sail around the northern part of Isabela on the way to Genovesa Island.
Marchena is named in honor of the Spanish monk Antonio de Marchena.[1]
The English pirate William Ambrosia Cowley charted the island as Bindlos's Island in 1684, naming it in honor of Robert Byndloss, a chief justice of Jamaica who was related by marriage to Henry Morgan and generally sympathetic to pirates, buccaneers, and privateers. Over time, the name frequently became written as Bindlos[2] and Bindloe Island, possibly through confusion with English captains active in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Marchena has an area of 130km2 and reaches an elevation of 343m (1,125feet) above sea level.[3] Marchena's nearest neighbor is Genovesa Island, about 45sp=usNaNsp=us due west.
Like many of the Galápagos volcanos, Marchena has a caldera. Marchena's caldera is roughly elliptical and measures 7by, within the range of caldera sizes of the large western volcanoes. Marchena's caldera is unusual, however, in that it has been almost completely filled with young lavas, some of which has spilled over and down the sides. The oldest lava pools go back 500,000 years.