The ORIGIN OF THE NAME IS UNCERTAIN.

From the few things that are known, the island appears for the first time in the maps in 1550 (Descaliers, 1550) under the name of “Ye mallabry.” Later, the term “malabrigo,” which means “without protection,” was commonly used by old cartographers to designate the island and its scarce bays.

Another explanation is that the name comes from the Latin word “maleveolus,” which means “inhospitable” which became later “Malbolo” and finally interpreted as “Malpelo” to refer to this place of difficult access.

INTERNATIONAL NOMINATIONS

The Malpelo Island is a protected area declared Fauna and Flora Sanctuary in the National Natural Parks System of Colombia and was created to protect its terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The protected area include a 9.584 kilometers square and was also nominated as a “Special Sensitive Zone” by the International Marine Organization (OMI) in 2002. It was also declared a Natural World Heritage Site by the UNESCO on 12 July 2006.

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