Historically, a common function of the giant tortoise was capturing for its meat. Following the discovery of the Galapagos Islands in 1535, they became a regular stop-off for pirates and whalers to stock up on tortoise meat. Tortoise fat could also be refined into oil, and was used by the indigenous tribes of Ecuador and the Galapagos, to trade to missionaries. Already, we can see an arising power structure: though likely the indigenous peoples would have discovered turtle oil as a commodity just the same, the appearance of foreign missionaries, suddenly meant that a new group of people had to be reckoned with on their own land. 

The most famous association with the giant tortoise is perhaps Darwin, who in 1831 he undertook a voyage aboard the HMS Beagle that lasted almost a year. Darwin’s experiences on the Galapagos were of disproportionate importance to his key theories. The biological variability of the tortoises according to the island they came from undermined the theory of the stability of species. But it has to be kept in mind that what made his exploration possible to a large extent was imperialist expansion - demonstrated by names of islands, such as ‘South Seymour Island’ named after an English nobleman, ‘Darwin Island’, ‘Espanola’ or Ferdinanda’ as well as settlers Darwin interacted with (such as acting governor of the Galapagos, Nicholas Lawson). 

In the object's contemporary context, there are a few things to consider. Firstly, the Grant Museum that currently houses the tortoise shell has no records of how the object was acquired. Theories about some of th details can be extrapolated really safely - for example, the violent scratch marks on the bottom of the shell (as can be seen in the image gallery) suggest that the meat was carved out, therefore it is likely from a time period when tortoise meat was still sold, and the giant tortoise has not yet been declared endangered. This demonstrates the shifting of priorities and power relations - a function as simple as the administration of object acquisition, which today is routinely done, would not have been considered important at the time.

Secondly, there's the famous case of Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island tortoise, a subspecies of the Galapagos Giant Tortoise (Chelonoidis). Lonesome George died in 2012, making his subspecies extinct. Scientists attempted to harvest his DNA to continue his lineage with a different female, but ultimately failed. This poses the question: should we be able to meddle with nature? According to the Galapagos-based Darwin foundation, four subspecies of the Chelonoidis are now extinct, while three more await evaluation, but their existence is doubtful. Looking at the giant tortoise is a rare insight into the nature of power. Its extinction is largely the result  of the exploitation of the ecology of the Galapagos, and the subsequent attempt at restoring his DNA is an attempt at undoing the harm done by man-made circumstance.