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Islas Marías
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Islas Marías
The Islas Marías ("Mary Islands") make up an archipelago in Mexico, consisting of four islands. They are located in the Pacific Ocean, some 100 km (62 mi) off the coast of the state of Nayarit and about 370 km (230 mi) southeast of the tip of Baja California. They are part of the municipality (municipio) of San Blas, Nayarit. The islands were used as a penal colony until February 18, 2019, when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the closure of its operation as Islas Marías Federal Prison.
The first European to encounter the islands was Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, a cousin of Hernán Cortés in 1532, who gave them the name Islas Magdalenas. He found no evidence of prior habitation by the Native Americans. In 2010 the archipelago was designated the Islas Marías Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
The islands have an aggregate area of 244.97 km2 (94.58 sq mi) and a population of 1,116 on Isla María Madre as of the census of 2005 along with around 8,000 prisoners. The other islands are uninhabited. The main settlement is Puerto Balleto, with a population of 602.
Isla María Madre is the largest of the islands, with an area of 145.28 km2 (56.09 sq mi). It houses the Islas Marías Federal Prison, which was established there in 1905. The next two largest islands are Isla María Magdalena (70.44 km2 [27.20 sq mi]) and, further south, Isla María Cleofas (19.82 km [12.32 mi]). They were named after three women called Mary in the Biblical New Testament: respectively, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and are referred to as the Tres Marías. A smaller island, San Juanito, with an area of 9.1 km2 (3.5 sq mi) lies off the north coast of Isla María Madre.
The islands are listed from north to south in the following table:
Research supports the hypothesis that the Islas Marías are fragments of continental crust left over from the separation of the Baja California Peninsula from the mainland of Mexico. Rocks found on the islands correspond with rocks found around Cabo San Lucas, as well as Puerto Vallarta.
The Tres Marías Islands are a linear chain of continental shelf islands located 80–110 km from the nearest mainland, in a shallow sea. The four islands, Isla San Juanito, Isla María Madre, Isla María Magdalena and Isla María Cleofas, vary in elevation, with Isla María Madre being the largest (145 km2, 620 m). Isla Isabel, a volcanic island (2 km2, 190 m), may facilitate the movement of people between some of these islands and the mainland, although it is closer to the mainland.
Historically, this region was connected to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and the Nayarit coast during the Miocene, and remained connected to the Nayarit mainland until three million years ago in the Late Pliocene. The islands, submerged until the Late Pliocene, were formed well before the Late Pleistocene, as evidenced by Late Pleistocene terrace deposits in the lower areas of Isla María Madre and Isla María Cleofas. Significant uplift, amounting to hundreds of metres, facilitated this formation.
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Islas Marías
The Islas Marías ("Mary Islands") make up an archipelago in Mexico, consisting of four islands. They are located in the Pacific Ocean, some 100 km (62 mi) off the coast of the state of Nayarit and about 370 km (230 mi) southeast of the tip of Baja California. They are part of the municipality (municipio) of San Blas, Nayarit. The islands were used as a penal colony until February 18, 2019, when President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ordered the closure of its operation as Islas Marías Federal Prison.
The first European to encounter the islands was Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, a cousin of Hernán Cortés in 1532, who gave them the name Islas Magdalenas. He found no evidence of prior habitation by the Native Americans. In 2010 the archipelago was designated the Islas Marías Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
The islands have an aggregate area of 244.97 km2 (94.58 sq mi) and a population of 1,116 on Isla María Madre as of the census of 2005 along with around 8,000 prisoners. The other islands are uninhabited. The main settlement is Puerto Balleto, with a population of 602.
Isla María Madre is the largest of the islands, with an area of 145.28 km2 (56.09 sq mi). It houses the Islas Marías Federal Prison, which was established there in 1905. The next two largest islands are Isla María Magdalena (70.44 km2 [27.20 sq mi]) and, further south, Isla María Cleofas (19.82 km [12.32 mi]). They were named after three women called Mary in the Biblical New Testament: respectively, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and are referred to as the Tres Marías. A smaller island, San Juanito, with an area of 9.1 km2 (3.5 sq mi) lies off the north coast of Isla María Madre.
The islands are listed from north to south in the following table:
Research supports the hypothesis that the Islas Marías are fragments of continental crust left over from the separation of the Baja California Peninsula from the mainland of Mexico. Rocks found on the islands correspond with rocks found around Cabo San Lucas, as well as Puerto Vallarta.
The Tres Marías Islands are a linear chain of continental shelf islands located 80–110 km from the nearest mainland, in a shallow sea. The four islands, Isla San Juanito, Isla María Madre, Isla María Magdalena and Isla María Cleofas, vary in elevation, with Isla María Madre being the largest (145 km2, 620 m). Isla Isabel, a volcanic island (2 km2, 190 m), may facilitate the movement of people between some of these islands and the mainland, although it is closer to the mainland.
Historically, this region was connected to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula and the Nayarit coast during the Miocene, and remained connected to the Nayarit mainland until three million years ago in the Late Pliocene. The islands, submerged until the Late Pliocene, were formed well before the Late Pleistocene, as evidenced by Late Pleistocene terrace deposits in the lower areas of Isla María Madre and Isla María Cleofas. Significant uplift, amounting to hundreds of metres, facilitated this formation.
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