April 21, 2009: La Cumbre volcano erupts lava into the Pacific Ocean creating steam clouds and expanding Fernandina (Narborough) Island, in the Galápagos Islands, a province of Ecuador, South America. This eruption cycle started April 10, 2009 after 5 years of quiet. Fernandina Island was named in honor of King Ferdinand II of Aragon, who sponsored the voyage of Columbus. Fernandina is the youngest and westernmost island of the Galápagos archipelago, and has a maximum altitude of 1,494 metres (4,902 feet). In 1959, Ecuador declared 97% of the land area of the Galápagos Islands to be Galápagos National Park, which UNESCO registered as a World Heritage Site in 1978. Ecuador created the Galápagos Marine Reserve in 1998, which UNESCO appended in 2001.
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