he island due to the Spanish navigator from Avilés 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, called that of Henry II that
appeared in 1542 during the reign of Francis I of France. The planisphere of
Nicolás Desliens (1556, Dieppe) places this
Ysle de Coques about one and half degrees north of the Equator.
(See also Mario A. Boza and Rolando Mendoza,
Los parques nacionales de Costa Rica, Madrid, 1981.) Blaeu'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 the latitude of 2 degrees and 30 minutes northern latitude,
while in 1596 Theodore de Bry shows the Galapagos Islands near 6 degrees north
of the Equator. Emanuel Bowen,
A
Complete system of Geography, Volume II (London, 1747: 586) states that
the Galapagos stretch 5 degrees north of the Equator.
Administrative history
The island became part of Costa Rica in 1832 by decree No. 54 of the
Constitutional Assembly of the free state of Costa Rica.
Whalers stopped at Cocos Island
