voyage of the beagle timeline

HMS Beagle: Darwin’s Trip around the World

Charles Darwin sailed around the world from 1831–1836 as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle . His experiences and observations helped him develop the theory of evolution through natural selection.

Biology, Geography, Earth Science, Geology, Ecology

Loading ...

Idea for Use in the Classroom

Charles Darwin set sail on the ship HMS Beagle on December 27, 1831, from Plymouth, England. Darwin was 22 years old when he was hired to be the ship’s naturalist . Most of the trip was spent sailing around South America. There Darwin spent considerable time ashore collecting plants and animals. Darwin filled notebooks with his observations of plants, animals, and geology . The trip was an almost five-year adventure and the ship returned to Falmouth, England, on October 2, 1836.

Throughout South America, Darwin collected a variety of bird specimens . One key observation Darwin made occurred while he was studying the specimens from the Galapagos Islands. He noticed the finches on the island were similar to the finches from the mainland, but each showed certain characteristics that helped them to gather food more easily in their specific habitat. He collected many specimens of the finches on the Galapagos Islands. These specimens and his notebooks provided Darwin with a record of his observations as he developed the theory of evolution through natural selection .

Have students work in pairs to use the map and the resources in the explore more tab to create a social media feed that includes five dates and posts from the expedition. Students may need to conduct additional research to ensure their proposed posts are factual and something Darwin would have seen on the trip. Help students brainstorm ideas for their posts by asking: What types of animals would Darwin have seen? Are any of them extinct today? What types of plants did he note? What types of geology did he see? What would you imagine some of the hardships the explorers would have encountered on this voyage?

Articles & Profiles

Media credits.

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Production Managers

Program specialists, last updated.

October 19, 2023

User Permissions

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service .

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

Related Resources

Charles Darwin and His Voyage Aboard H.M.S. Beagle

The Young Naturalist Spent Five Years on a Royal Navy Research Ship

Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Images

• Important Historical Figures
• U.S. Presidents
• Native American History
• American Revolution
• America Moves Westward
• The Gilded Age
• Crimes & Disasters
• The Most Important Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History

The History of H.M.S. Beagle

Gentleman passenger, darwin invited to join the voyage in 1831, departs england on december 27, 1831, south america from february 1832, the galapagos islands, september 1835, circumnavigating the globe, back home october 2, 1836, organizing specimens and writing, the theory of evolution.

Charles Darwin’s five-year voyage in the early 1830s on H.M.S. Beagle has become legendary, as insights gained by the bright young scientist on his trip to exotic places greatly influenced his masterwork, the book " On the Origin of Species ."

Darwin didn’t actually formulate his theory of evolution while sailing around the world aboard the Royal Navy ship. But the exotic plants and animals he encountered challenged his thinking and led him to consider scientific evidence in new ways.

After returning to England from his five years at sea, Darwin began writing a multi-volume book on what he had seen. His writings on the Beagle voyage concluded in 1843, a full decade and a half before the publication of "On the Origin of Species."

H.M.S. Beagle is remembered today because of its association with Charles Darwin , but it had sailed on a lengthy scientific mission several years before Darwin came into the picture. The Beagle, a warship carrying ten cannons, sailed in 1826 to explore the coastline of South America. The ship had an unfortunate episode when its captain sank into a depression, perhaps caused by the isolation of the voyage, and committed suicide.

Lieutenant Robert FitzRoy assumed command of the Beagle, continued the voyage and returned the ship safely to England in 1830. FitzRoy was promoted to Captain and named to command the ship on a second voyage, which was to circumnavigate the globe while conducting explorations along the South American coastline and across the South Pacific.

FitzRoy came up with the idea of bringing along someone with a scientific background who could explore and record observations. Part of FitzRoy’s plan was that an educated civilian, referred to as a “gentleman passenger,” would be good company aboard ship and would help him avoid the loneliness that seemed to have doomed his predecessor.

Inquiries were made among professors at British universities, and a former professor of Darwin’s proposed him for the position aboard the Beagle.

After taking his final exams at Cambridge in 1831, Darwin spent a few weeks on a geological expedition to Wales. He had intended to return to Cambridge that fall for theological training, but a letter from a professor, John Steven Henslow, inviting him to join the Beagle, changed everything.

Darwin was excited to join the ship, but his father was against the idea, thinking it foolhardy. Other relatives convinced Darwin’s father otherwise, and during the fall of 1831, the 22-year-old Darwin made preparations to depart England for five years.

With its eager passenger aboard, the Beagle left England on December 27, 1831. The ship reached the Canary Islands in early January and continued onward to South America, which was reached by the end of February 1832.

During the explorations of South America, Darwin was able to spend considerable time on land, sometimes arranging for the ship to drop him off and pick him up at the end of an overland trip. He kept notebooks to record his observations, and during quiet times on board the Beagle, he would transcribe his notes into a journal.

In the summer of 1833, Darwin went inland with gauchos in Argentina. During his treks in South America, Darwin dug for bones and fossils and was also exposed to the horrors of enslavement and other human rights abuses.

After considerable explorations in South America, the Beagle reached the Galapagos Islands in September 1835. Darwin was fascinated by such oddities as volcanic rocks and giant tortoises. He later wrote about approaching tortoises, which would retreat into their shells. The young scientist would then climb on top, and attempt to ride the large reptile when it began moving again. He recalled that it was difficult to keep his balance.

While in the Galapagos Darwin collected samples of mockingbirds, and later observed that the birds were somewhat different on each island. This made him think that the birds had a common ancestor, but had followed varying evolutionary paths once they had become separated.

The Beagle left the Galapagos and arrived at Tahiti in November 1835, and then sailed onward to reach New Zealand in late December. In January 1836 the Beagle arrived in Australia, where Darwin was favorably impressed by the young city of Sydney.

After exploring coral reefs, the Beagle continued on its way, reaching the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa at the end of May 1836. Sailing back into the Atlantic Ocean, the Beagle, in July, reached St. Helena, the remote island where Napoleon Bonaparte had died in exile following his defeat at Waterloo. The Beagle also reached a British outpost on Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, where Darwin received some very welcome letters from his sister in England.

The Beagle then sailed back to the coast of South America before returning to England, arriving at Falmouth on October 2, 1836. The entire voyage had taken nearly five years.

After landing in England, Darwin took a coach to meet his family, staying at his father’s house for a few weeks. But he was soon active, seeking advice from scientists on how to organize specimens, which included fossils and stuffed birds, he had brought home with him.

In the following few years, he wrote extensively about his experiences. A lavish five-volume set, "The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle," was published from 1839 to 1843.

And in 1839 Darwin published a classic book under its original title, "Journal of Researches." The book was later republished as " The Voyage of the Beagle ," and remains in print to this day. The book is a lively and charming account of Darwin’s travels, written with intelligence and occasional flashes of humor.

Darwin had been exposed to some thinking about evolution before embarking aboard H.M.S. Beagle. So a popular conception that Darwin’s voyage gave him the idea of evolution is not accurate.

Yet is it true that the years of travel and research focused Darwin's mind and sharpened his powers of observation. It can be argued that his trip on the Beagle gave him invaluable training, and the experience prepared him for the scientific inquiry that led to the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859.

• Charles Darwin's Finches
• Biography of Charles Darwin, Originator of the Theory of Evolution
• World History Timeline From 1830 to 1840
• The Legacy of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"
• Charles Darwin WebQuest
• Evidence Darwin Had for Evolution
• An Overview of the Galapagos Islands
• 8 People Who Influenced and Inspired Charles Darwin
• How Artificial Selection Works With Animals
• The 5 Types of Selection
• Biography of Ferdinand Magellan, Explorer Circumnavigated the Earth
• Interesting Facts About Charles Darwin
• Biography and Legacy of Ferdinand Magellan
• Artificial Selection: Breeding for Desirable Traits
• What Is Darwinism?

Premium Content

• HISTORY MAGAZINE

Darwin's first—and only—trip around the world began a scientific revolution

The plants and animals encountered on the five-year voyage of the 'Beagle' provided the foundation for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

During August 1831 Charles Darwin , recently graduated from the University of Cambridge, was stuck at home on exactly the same principle, he complained, as a person would choose to remain in a debtors’ prison. At age 22, Darwin was fascinated by the natural world and inspired by the adventure stories of the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt , whose travels across Central and South America in the early 1800s was the basis of a series of extensive travelogues. Darwin was desperate to undertake a similar scientific odyssey. An attempt to organize an expedition to Tenerife in the Canary Islands off the coast of northwest Africa, had fallen through.

The awful necessity of earning his own living, probably as the vicar of a country parish, seemed inescapable. And then a letter arrived offering Darwin an amazing opportunity. The writer was one of Darwin’s former teachers, John Stevens Henslow, professor of botany at Cambridge. Henslow informed Darwin that he had recommended him to accompany Captain Robert FitzRoy on an expedition aboard the H.M.S. Beagle . He wrote: “I state this not on the supposition of yr. being a finished Naturalist, but as amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy . . . in Natural History.”

Robert FitzRoy was an aristocratic but mercurial naval captain. In 1826 he had set off as a crew member on the Beagle to carry out a survey of South America. In the course of the voyage, he was placed in command of the expedition, from which he returned in 1830. The letter from Henslow to Darwin was written as FitzRoy was under instructions from the Admiralty to mount a second survey expedition to Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago at the tip of South America. The primary motive of the voyage was to chart the coast of South America. A secondary motive was scientific exploration. FitzRoy wanted a naturalist aboard, both to carry out scientific work and to keep him company.

Despite Henslow’s recommendation, however, Darwin’s place was not immediately assured. FitzRoy’s first impression of the young naturalist was not entirely favorable. Darwin’s father expressed skepticism at the expense and dangerous nature of the venture. The Beagle was the overcrowded home to a total crew of 74. Shipwreck was a common hazard, death through disease an even greater one, and much of South America was lawless. To try to convince his father, Darwin sought help from his mother’s brother, the industrialist Josiah Wedgwood II. Wedgwood’s daughter Emma had been a childhood friend of Darwin’s, and the two first cousins would later marry, in 1839.

Setting sail

In the end both FitzRoy and his father were persuaded that he should go, and on December 27, 1831, the Beagle sailed out of Plymouth with Darwin on board. Originally planned for two years, the voyage stretched to five, and took Darwin not only to South America but to Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and many of the Atlantic and Pacific islands in between. Darwin often left the ship to travel hundreds of miles on horseback.

Life aboard the Beagle

First launched in 1820, the Beagle started life as a brig (a swift two-masted vessel), 90 feet long and 25 feet wide. It was reconditioned as a three-masted bark in 1825, and later set off to South America under the command of Pringle Stokes. Stokes died during the mission, and Robert FitzRoy took command. On the Beagle’ s return in 1830, it was remodeled again for a second surveying expedition in which Darwin would participate (1831-36); the route would take the Beagle to South America and then make a circumnavigation of the globe.

The 74-person crew for this second voyage consisted of officers, midshipmen, sailors and porters, and marines, who all formed the naval crew; in addition, there were nine noncommissioned members, including Darwin. It was a large crew for a ship of such modest dimensions, as Darwin wrote: “The vessel is a very small one . . . but every body says it is the best sort for our work . . . The want of room is very bad, but we must make the best of it.”

Darwin spent most of his time in the stern where Captain FitzRoy’s cabin was located. Darwin’s cabin was outfitted with a folding bunk and bookshelves. He also had a chest in which to store the samples collected ashore. Darwin soon felt at ease on the Beagle. He wrote in February 1832: “I find to my great surprise that a ship is singularly comfortable for all sorts of work. Everything is so close at hand, & being cramped, make one so methodical, that in the end I have been a gainer. I already have got to look at going to sea as a regular quiet place, like going back to home after staying away from it.”

In the course of this extraordinary journey, he filled notebook after notebook with sketches and observations. Darwin shipped home barrels, boxes, and bottles by the dozen, filled with pressed plants, fossils, rocks, skins, and skeletons. He explored landscapes that ranged from the gray desolation of the Falklands to the glorious heights of the Andes, from the wild glaciated cliffs of the Beagle Channel to the beaches of Tahiti, from the tropical lushness of Rio to the dripping rainforest of southern Chile.

Early observations

First landfall was the volcanic island of St. Jago (now Santiago) in the Cape Verde Islands. After three weeks of seasickness, Darwin threw himself enthusiastically into his first independent fieldwork, identifying rock samples and recording a cross section of the volcanic strata. He had the best equipment he could buy: a microscope, a clinometer for measuring angles, geological hammers, and a vasculum (a container for botanical specimens), but he was still a novice. He boasted in a letter to his Cambridge teacher, John Stevens Henslow, that his discovery of a color-changing octopus “appears to be new.” It wasn’t, and Henslow gently disabused him. ( Here's how animals are able to manipulate their color. )

By February 15, 1832, they were resupplying on the remote rocky islets of St. Paul’s, and two weeks later, the Beagle crossed the Equator and reached the coast of Brazil. Darwin, however, injured in the final leg of the journey, was forced to stay on board, so it was April before he first set foot in South America, at Botafogo Bay near Rio de Janeiro.

For the next few months as the crew of the Beagle sailed up and down the coast checking and rechecking naval charts, Darwin stayed ashore, happily exploring the Corcovado mountains near Rio, shifting from geology to zoology and building an impressive collection of spiders and wasps .

A man of letters

During the Beagle ’s voyage, Darwin famously amassed a huge scientific collection of plants and animals, but another important legacy is his prolific and detailed correspondence with family and friends. The letters reflect Darwin’s mood over the five years of the voyage and—despite the ups and downs—suggest he was never disheartened. His words to his loved ones also expose the man behind the scientist. His humanity and personality quirks are on full display—from delighting in his private cabin on the ship to asking his sisters to mail him more “Prometheans,” or matches.

The ship went south again at the end of June. This time he went, too, encountering porpoises, whales, penguins, and seals. The expedition dropped anchor at the end of July at the mouth of the majestic Río de la Plata. Both Montevideo on the north bank, where they helped put down a revolt, and Buenos Aires on the south bank, where they were fired on as suspected cholera-carriers, were dangerous places. The flat and empty landscape seemed to Darwin a poor exchange for the lushness of the tropics. (Related: The tropics are home to 80 percent of the world's species, but they're losing wildlife fast. )

All the while, Darwin’s collections were annoying the ship’s purser who complained about the clutter. Darwin had already learned some taxidermy, and now experimented with other ways of preserving unfamiliar specimens using wax, spirits, and thin sheets of lead—with mixed results. ( See how one museum moved hundreds of taxidermy animals. )

Darwin's birds

The first letters from home brought criticism and advice from Henslow, on whose doorstep Darwin’s treasures were landing. It is another reminder of how Darwin's voyage was a learning experience: His labels weren’t securely fixed, beetles had been crushed, mice had gone moldy, and one mystery bottle looked like “the remains of an electric explosion, a mere mass of soot.”

By September 1832 they were surveying the coast of Argentina. Already a good shot, Darwin learned to use a bola (a weighted lasso) to bring down ostriches and took time off from “admiring the Spanish ladies” to discover his first large fossilized vertebrate—a Megatherium, an extinct species of giant ground sloth. Darwin’s curiosity was piqued by its similarity to a species of agouti, a rodent native to South America. In November he returned to Buenos Aires to restock for the voyage to Cape Horn.

A year after leaving home, the Beagle , like the Endeavour of Captain Cook and Joseph Banks before it, finally anchored in the Bay of Good Success on the coast of Tierra del Fuego. It was magnificent but inhospitable country. They spent Christmas on Hermit Island, just west of the cape, but were repeatedly beaten back by gales. One of their whaleboats was smashed against the ship in a storm, and Darwin lost notes and specimens.

After arriving at Ponsonby Sound, FitzRoy and some of the crew, including Darwin, headed off in two of the ship’s boats on a 300-mile round trip to chart the farther reaches of the Beagle Channel, named for FitzRoy’s first adventures there. It was spectacular country. Darwin’s letters home glitter with descriptions of the glaciers’ beauty. But they were dangerous as well: When a large sheet of ice crashed into the water sending a surge along the shore toward their boats, it was Darwin who led the desperate race to drag them to safety. FitzRoy named the place Darwin Sound in his honor.

Reptilian relationships

On April 18, 1835 Darwin wrote a long letter from Valparaíso (Chile) to his friend and former teacher, the botanist and geologist John Stevens Henslow. He described the local lizards and invited his colleagues’ opinions. Darwin's methodical approach to research and his generosity and openness to academic cooperation is on full display: “I also send a small bottle with 2 Lizards: one of them is Viviparous, as you will see by the accompanying notice.” Darwin had heard of a French scholar who had found a similar lizard, so he urged his friend to “hand over the Specimens to some good Lizardologist & Comparative Anatomist to publish an account of their internal structure.”

Foiled in their attempt to round the cape, they sailed east and on March 1, 1833, arrived at the Falkland Islands where the navy was keen to discover safe harbors. Concerned that the Beagle crew alone could not complete their mission, FitzRoy bought another boat: the Adventure. Both ships returned in April to Montevideo, where Darwin set off on his first long inland expedition, accompanied by the Beagle’ s cabin boy, Syms Covington, whom Darwin had hired as combined servant and research assistant. They did not rendezvous with the ship until September, in Buenos Aires.

Rounding the Cape

Both the Beagle and the Adventure headed south in December, retracing the route of the previous year as far as Tierra del Fuego. There, Darwin finally found something he had been looking for: a new species of rhea (originally named Rhea darwinii ), an ostrich-like bird—but only after half of it had been eaten for the crew’s dinner.

By March 1834 they were once again forced to head back to the Falklands without rounding the cape. The Beagle’ s keel had been badly damaged, so by the middle of April it was beached at the mouth of the Rio Santa Cruz for repairs. FitzRoy took advantage of the opportunity to mount an expedition upriver. They rowed and dragged the boats 140 miles through uncharted territory. It took three weeks to go up and three days to sail back down, Darwin all the while was adding to his observations. ( These scientists spent months exploring the Okavango delta. )

Darwin's fossils

After the Beagle was repaired, it made a third attempt to round the cape. Perhaps the third time was the charm, because this time they made it. In June 1834 the expedition finally reached the west coast of South America.

The next year was spent following the coastline of Chile and Peru in much the same manner as the previous two and a half years had been spent in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina: The Beagle followed a switchback course, surveying and resurveying the complex archipelago of the coastline.

Darwin loathed the incessantly dripping and impenetrable temperate rainforest of southern Chile, and was frequently absent organizing his own inland expeditions. He traveled southeast through the Andes from the colonial elegance of Valparaíso to Santiago. It was largely uncharted, so he relied on the help of locals who drew maps, advised on safe routes, and helped hire guides and horses. One looked after him for several weeks when he fell dangerously ill, probably with typhoid fever. Meanwhile FitzRoy felt isolated, overworked, and depressed. The Admiralty’s unwillingness to shoulder the cost of the Adventur e forced him to sell the ship, after which he threatened to resign. The future of the voyage hung in the balance.

Darwin made one more major land expedition, traveling 220 miles from Valparaíso through the Andes to Coquimbo and Copiapó, before rejoining the Beagle to sail to Iquique in Peru. From Lima they sailed west at the end of July 1835 and arrived at the Galápagos archipelago in mid-September.

You May Also Like

Beyond the Western myth of exploration lies a rich and often overlooked history

These 5 explorers disappeared into thin air. Will we ever know the truth?

Who were the original 49ers? The true story of the California Gold Rush

They spent five weeks exploring the islands, each with its own distinctive flora and fauna. Darwin, still months from forming even a rudimentary theory on how species might evolve over time, filed new facts away with each species he came across. Although the Galápagos, and their finches and great tortoises are closely connected in the popular imagination with the origins of his ideas about species change, Darwin did not conceive of his famous hypothesis on that visit. ( Turns out Galápagos tortoises migrate—just very slowly. )

Darwin’s observations on this trip led to a different grand, scientific theory. In the Andes, in the Uspallata Pass, he had noticed something curious: fossilized trees that he realized must once have been submerged in the sea. The question in Darwin’s mind was how had they been raised so high up in the mountains.

On January 19, 1835, while Darwin was exploring inland, the Beagle crew had witnessed the eruption of the Osorno Volcano in Chile. A month later, farther up the coast, an earthquake struck and caused a tidal wave. Darwin began to speculate that the events might be connected. FitzRoy reviewed earlier soundings and confirmed the height of the land had changed. Armed with this information, Darwin proposed a theory of continental-scale fall and uplift, with tiny changes working over eons to create dramatic landscapes like those in the Andes.

With this in mind, when they arrived in Tahiti and Darwin saw his first coral reef, he proposed a brilliant new solution to the mystery of how such reefs were formed. His letters describing his ideas were, unbeknownst to him, appearing in scientific journals, and he would return with an already established scientific reputation. But he wasn’t home yet. As they sailed west from the coast of Africa, FitzRoy had found errors in the very first charts they had made, and diverted across the Atlantic to resurvey the coast of Brazil.

The Beagle finally docked at Falmouth on October 2, 1836. Darwin never left Britain again, but he maintained a robust correspondence with his colleagues all over the world about the work done on the voyage. He went on to publish more than 20 articles from his notes and diaries written aboard the Beagle. He published books, became a best-selling travel writer, and a leading scientist.

Evolution of a theory

It is likely that during his trip aboard the Beagle Darwin may have already been beginning to sketch a first outline of his theory of evolution. Immediately after returning to London, he began to work on the theory in earnest, albeit secretly, in his private notebooks. He drafted a first brief treatise that he kept hidden for fear of the scandal it would provoke. As early as 1837 (a year after his return on the Bea- gle ), he drew a “tree of life” to illustrate the evolution—or “transmutation” as he then termed it—of species. It was not until 1859 that Darwin published the final version of his theory, spurred to do so by the publication of similar ideas by the English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace.

The work of identifying hundreds of specimens was parceled out to others, many of whom became lifelong friends and colleagues. Although not conceived during the voyage, Darwin’s ideas about species change were born not only out of his encounters with so many different plants and animals (including humans), but, most importantly, through the opportunity to see them in all the complexity of their shared habitats. Many years later, Darwin had no hesitation in declaring the voyage of the Beagle the single most important event of his life.

Related Topics

• SPECIES DISCOVERY
• JUNGLE EXPLORATION
• LAND EXPLORATION

New fossils reveal one of the smallest titanosaurs ever found

Magellan got the credit, but this man was first to sail around the world

The 11 most astonishing scientific discoveries of 2023

Real desert islands: 10 remote getaways in the Indian Ocean

The ultimate Costa Rican adventure, from white-water rafting to jungle trekking

• Environment
• Perpetual Planet

History & Culture

• History & Culture
• History Magazine
• Mind, Body, Wonder
• Paid Content
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Nat Geo Home
• Attend a Live Event
• Book a Trip
• Inspire Your Kids
• Shop Nat Geo
• Visit the D.C. Museum
• Learn About Our Impact
• Support Our Mission
• Advertise With Us
• Customer Service
• Renew Subscription
• Manage Your Subscription
• Work at Nat Geo
• Sign Up for Our Newsletters
• Contribute to Protect the Planet

Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic Society Copyright © 2015-2024 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

Charles Darwin and the voyage of the Beagle

Charles Darwin travelled the world on the HMS Beagle for five years from 1831 to 1836. This journey had a crucial impact on the development of his theories of evolution. This interactive timeline outlines the major events in this significant voyage.

To navigate through the timeline, you can either click on the arrow on the right of the text, or click on the tabs on the timeline itself, or click on the ship icon in the map. You can move forwards and backwards through the timeline.

The Life of Charles Darwin Copyright © by Charles Darwin University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Oxford University Press's Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Charles Darwin’s five-year journey [timeline]

SSE20 Conference List

• By Andrea Standrowicz
• July 23 rd 2020

Charles Darwin is most known for his journey to the Galapagos Islands, and for the work he published around the theory of evolution, The Origin of Species , as a result of that trip. And though his time in the Galapagos was vital to Darwin’s work, he also visited many other places, a small selection of which are featured here. While the ship itself was commissioned to survey the coast of South America, Darwin was on board to make the scientific observations for which that he is remembered.

Image by Alin Meceanu via Unsplash

Andrea Standrowicz is a marketing coordinator at Oxford University Press.

• Earth & Life Sciences
• Science & Medicine

Our Privacy Policy sets out how Oxford University Press handles your personal information, and your rights to object to your personal information being used for marketing to you or being processed as part of our business activities.

We will only use your personal information to register you for OUPblog articles.

Or subscribe to articles in the subject area by email or RSS

Related posts:

No related posts.

Recent Comments

tried to order it as an eBook, but could not get to it on the Oxford web page

Comments are closed.

Charles Darwin and   ‍ The Voyage Of The Beagle

a Scroll Storytelling

Beagle sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27 December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. While the expedition was originally planned to last two years, it lasted almost five—Beagle did not return until 2 October 1836. Darwin spent most of this time exploring on land (three years and three months on land; 18 months at sea).

Plymouth, U.K.

"Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R. N., sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1831...to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego..."

Canary Islands

"On the 6th of January we reached Teneriffe but were prevented landing by fears of our bringing the cholera.  The next morning we saw the sun rise behind the rugged outline of the Grand Canary island and suddenly illuminate the Peak of Teneriffe whilst the lower parts were veiled in fleecy clouds."

"On the 16th of January, 1832, we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago.  It then first dawned on me that I might perhaps write a book..."

Saint Peter and Paul Rocks

"In crossing the Atlantic we hove to the morning of February 16th close to the island of St Paul's. We found on St. Paul's only two kinds of birds—the booby and the noddy."

Fernando Noronha, Brazil

"The whole island is covered with wood; but from the dryness of the climate there is no appearance of luxuriance."

Salvador, Brazil

"The day has passed delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by himself in a Brazilian forest."

Abrolhos Islets, Brazil

"...when not far distant from the Abrolhos Islets, my attention was called to a reddish-brown appearance in the sea. These are minute cylindrical confervae, in bundles or rafts of from twenty to sixty in each."

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

"During our stay at Brazil I made a large collection of insects."

Montevideo, Uruguay

"We anchored at Monte Video. The Beagle was employed in surveying the extreme southern and eastern coasts of America, south of the Plata, during the two succeeding years."

Bahía Blanca, Argentina

"We passed the night in Punta Alta, and I employed myself in searching for fossil bones; this point being a perfect catacomb for monsters of extinct races."

Port Desire, Argentina

"The guanaco, or wild llama, is the characteristic quadruped of the plains of Patagonia; it is the South American representative of the camel of the East. They are generally wild and extremely wary."

Tierra del Fuego

"In the morning the Captain sent a party to communicate with the Fuegians. When we came within hail, one of the four natives who were present advanced to receive us, and began to shout most vehemently, wishing to direct us where to land."

"I do not think that our Fuegians were much more superstitious than some of the sailors; for an old quartermaster firmly believed that the successive heavy gales, which we encountered off Cape Horn, were caused by our having the Fuegians on board."

York Minster

“…we fetched within a few miles of the great rugged mountain of York Minster (so called by Captain Cook), when a violent squall compelled us to shorten sail and stand out to sea.”

Falkland Islands

"An undulating land, with a desolate and wretched aspect, is everywhere covered by a peaty soil and wiry grass, of one monotonous brown colour."

Rio Negro, Argentina

"The country near the mouth of the river is wretched in the extreme: on the south side a long line of perpendicular cliffs commences, which exposes a section of the geological nature of the country."

Gregory Bay

Río santa cruz, argentina.

"...scarcely anything was known about this large river. Captain Fitz Roy now determined to follow its course as far as time would allow."

Valparaiso, Chile

"The Beagle anchored late at night in the bay of Valparaiso.  When morning came, everything appeared delightful. After Tierra del Fuego, the climate felt quite delicious. The view from the anchorage is very pretty."

Chiloé Island, Chile

"In the wooded island of Chiloe, which has an extremely humid climate, this little bird [Trochilus forficatus], skipping from side to side amidst the dripping foliage, is perhaps more abundant than almost any other kind."

Valdivia, Chile

"There is not much cleared land near Valdivia: after crossing a river at the distance of a few miles, we entered the forest, and then passed only one miserable hovel, before reaching our sleeping-place for the night."

Concepción, Chile

"The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down to tell me the terrible news of the great earthquake of the 20th:—'That not a house in Concepcion or Talcahuano (the port) was standing; that seventy villages were destroyed; and that a great wave had almost washed away the ruins of Talcahuano.'"

Iquique, Chile

"The town contains about a thousand inhabitants, and stands on a little plain of sand at the foot of a great wall of rock, 2000 feet in height, here forming the coast. The whole is utterly desert."

"Lima stands on a plain in a valley, formed during the gradual retreat of the sea. Steep barren hills rise like islands from the plain, which is divided, by straight mud-walls, into large green fields. In these scarcely a tree grows excepting a few willows, and an occasional clump of bananas and of oranges."

Galápagos, Equador

"As I was walking along I met two large tortoises, each of which must have weighed at least two hundred pounds: one was eating a piece of cactus, and as I approached, it stared at me and slowly walked away; the other gave a deep hiss, and drew in its head."

"The survey of the Galapagos Archipelago being concluded, we steered towards Tahiti and commenced our long passage of 3,200 miles."

Pahia, New Zeland

"New Zealand is favoured by one great natural advantage; namely, that the inhabitants can never perish from famine. The whole country abounds with fern: and the roots of this plant, if not very palatable, yet contain much nutriment."

Sydney, Australia

"At last we anchored within Sydney Cove. In the evening I walked through the town, and returned full of admiration at the whole scene. "

Hobart, Tasmania

"Late in the evening we anchored in the snug cove on the shores of which stands the capital of Tasmania. The first aspect of the place was very inferior to that of Sydney; the latter might be called a city, this is only a town. "

Cocos Islands

"The ring-formed reef of the lagoon-island is surmounted in the greater part of its length by linear islets. On entering, the scene was very curious and rather pretty; its beauty, however, entirely depended on the brilliancy of the surrounding colours."

"In the morning we passed round the northern end of Mauritius. From this point of view the aspect of the island equalled the expectations raised by the many well-known descriptions of its beautiful scenery."

Cape Town, South Africa

"With regard to the number of large quadrupeds, there certainly exists no quarter of the globe which will bear comparison with Southern Africa."

"This island, the forbidding aspect of which has been so often described, rises abruptly like a huge black castle from the ocean. Near the town, as if to complete nature's defence, small forts and guns fill up every gap in the rugged rocks."

Pernambuco, Brazil

"The flat swampy land on which Pernambuco stands is surrounded, at the distance of a few miles, by a semicircle of low hills, or rather by the edge of a country elevated perhaps two hundred feet above the sea."

"...thence we proceeded to the Azores, where we stayed six days."

Falmouth, U.K.

"On the 2nd of October we made the shores of England; and at Falmouth I left the Beagle, having lived on board the good little vessel nearly five years."

London, U.K.

23 years after Darwin's return, On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life is published by John Murray.

Hi, I'm Carlos Toledo. A Product Designer based in Florianopolis, Brazil focused on designing and developing amazing web experiences

This project was developed using Mapbox Studio, Mapbox GL JS library and Webflow. Feel free to clone this project use it in your own way. ‍

• Acknowledgements
• Accessibility
• Privacy & legal
• Sustainability

this text does not appear on the site, the glossary page is constructed automatically from the post type.

Discovering Galapagos

Charles Darwin 1/2: Voyage of the Beagle

Charles Darwin was a passenger on the HMS Beagle from 1832 to 1836, which had been chartered to survey the South American coast.

A voyage of discovery

Captain Robert FitzRoy had seen the need for a geologist during HMS Beagle’s second survey of the South American coast. It was Charles Darwin who was eventually suggested to accompany Fitzroy on this voyage. The Beagle reached the Galapagos Islands on 15 September 1835, nearly four years after setting off from Plymouth, England.

The visit to the Galapagos would prove the starting point from which Darwin would develop his theories on evolution and secure his enduring fame. Like many visitors to the Islands before him, Darwin considered them bleak and ugly. Darwin had 34 days to collect species and record observations around the Islands.

Painting of HMS Beagle by R.T. Pritchett in 1900

Although he was employed as a geologist, Darwin had also been an avid collector of fossils, animals and plants during his voyage and took extensive notes on all he observed. He described the natural history of Galapagos as “ very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself; the greater number of its inhabitants, both vegetable and animal, being found nowhere else.”

Darwin travelled around the Galapagos Islands for 5 weeks visiting:

• San Cristobal 17 -22 September 
• Floreana 24   – 27 September
• Isabela 29 September    –  02 October
• Santiago 08 – 17 October

You can find out more about the voyage of the HMS Beagle  here .

Next: Charles Darwin – Origin of Species: Darwin’s Impact

If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser.

Big History Project

Course: big history project   >   unit 5.

• READ: Gallery — Voyage of the Beagle

ACTIVITY: The Voyage of the Beagle

• READ: Darwin, Evolution, and Faith
• READ: Crick, Watson, and Franklin
• READ: Henrietta Lacks’ Immortal Legacy - Graphic Biography

Preparation

• What information do these images provide about the voyage Darwin made and the kinds of ecosystems he explored?
• fossils of extinct animals?
• How did Darwin explain the fact that there were different types of finches, with different beaks, on each of the islands of the Galapagos?

For Further Discussion

Want to join the conversation.

• Upvote Button navigates to signup page
• Downvote Button navigates to signup page
• Flag Button navigates to signup page

• school Campus Bookshelves
• menu_book Bookshelves
• perm_media Learning Objects
• login Login
• how_to_reg Request Instructor Account
• hub Instructor Commons
• Download Page (PDF)
• Download Full Book (PDF)
• Periodic Table
• Physics Constants
• Scientific Calculator
• Reference & Cite
• Tools expand_more
• Readability

selected template will load here

This action is not available.

5.13: Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle

• Last updated
• Save as PDF
• Page ID 6538

What's that big red pouch?

The Frigate bird of the Galápagos Islands. This bird can be found throughout the tropical Atlantic down to the Galápagos Islands and Ecuador, but not in Europe or South America, so Darwin may never have come across one until he landed on the Galápagos. Such a unique creature was bound to make a naturalist such as Darwin wonder why. Why do they look the way they do? What's that big red pouch? What are the advantages?

Darwin’s Theory

The Englishman Charles Darwin is one of the most famous scientists who ever lived. His place in the history of science is well deserved. Darwin’s theory of evolution represents a giant leap in human understanding. It explains and unifies all of biology.

An overview of evolution can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcjgWov7mTM (17:39).

As you view Introduction to Evolution and Natural Selection, focus on the following concepts: the meaning of "evolution," the relationship between evolution and natural selection, the relationship between natural selection and variation, the evolution of the peppered moth.

Darwin’s theory of evolution actually contains two major ideas:

• One idea is that evolution occurs. In other words, organisms change over time. Life on Earth has changed as descendants diverged from common ancestors in the past.
• The other idea is that evolution occurs by natural selection . Natural selection is the process that results in living things with beneficial traits producing more offspring than others. This results in changes in the traits of living things over time.

In Darwin’s day, most people believed that all species were created at the same time and remained unchanged thereafter. They also believed that Earth was only about 6,000 years old. Therefore, Darwin’s ideas revolutionized biology. How did Darwin come up with these important ideas? It all started when he went on a voyage.

The Voyage of the Beagle

In 1831, when Darwin was just 22 years old, he set sail on a scientific expedition on a ship called the HMS Beagle . He was the naturalist on the voyage. As a naturalist, it was his job to observe and collect specimens of plants, animals, rocks, and fossils wherever the expedition went ashore. The route the ship took and the stops they made are shown in the Figure below . You can learn more about Darwin’s voyage at this link:www.aboutdarwin.com/voyage/voyage03.html.

Voyage of the Beagle . This map shows the route of Darwin’s 5-year voyage on the HMS Beagle . Each stop along the way is labeled. Darwin and the others on board eventually circled the globe.

Darwin was fascinated by nature, so he loved his job on the Beagle . He spent more than 3 years of the 5-year trip exploring nature on distant continents and islands. While he was away, a former teacher published Darwin’s accounts of his observations. By the time Darwin finally returned to England, he had become famous as a naturalist.

Darwin’s Observations

During the long voyage, Darwin made many observations that helped him form his theory of evolution. For example:

• He visited tropical rainforests and other new habitats where he saw many plants and animals he had never seen before (see Figure below ). This impressed him with the great diversity of life.
• He experienced an earthquake that lifted the ocean floor 2.7 meters (9 feet) above sea level. He also found rocks containing fossil sea shells in mountains high above sea level. These observations suggested that continents and oceans had changed dramatically over time and continue to change in dramatic ways.
• He visited rock ledges that had clearly once been beaches that had gradually built up over time. This suggested that slow, steady processes also change Earth’s surface.
• He dug up fossils of gigantic extinct mammals, such as the ground sloth (see Figure below ). This was hard evidence that organisms looked very different in the past. It suggested that living things—like Earth’s surface—change over time.

On his voyage, Darwin saw giant marine iguanas and blue-footed boobies. He also dug up the fossil skeleton of a giant ground sloth like the one shown here. From left: Giant Marine Iguana, Blue-Footed Boobies, and Fossil Skeleton of a Giant Ground Sloth

The Galápagos Islands

Darwin’s most important observations were made on the Galápagos Islands (see map in Figure below ). This is a group of 16 small volcanic islands 966 kilometers (600 miles) off the west coast of Ecuador, South America.

Galápagos Islands. This map shows the location of the Galápagos Islands that Darwin visited on his voyage.

Individual Galápagos islands differ from one another in important ways. Some are rocky and dry. Others have better soil and more rainfall. Darwin noticed that the plants and animals on the different islands also differed. For example, the giant tortoises on one island had saddle-shaped shells, while those on another island had dome-shaped shells (see Figure below ). People who lived on the islands could even tell the island a turtle came from by its shell. This started Darwin thinking about the origin of species. He wondered how each island came to have its own type of tortoise.

Galápagos Tortoises. Galápagos tortoises have differently shaped shells depending on which island they inhabit. Tortoises with saddle-shaped shells can reach up to eat plant leaves above their head. Tortoises with dome-shaped shells cannot reach up in this way. These two types of tortoises live on islands with different environments and food sources. How might this explain the differences in their shells?

The Farallon Islands – "California's Galapagos"

One of the most productive marine food webs on the planet is located on the Farallon Islands, just 28 miles off the San Francisco, California coast. These islands also host the largest seabird breeding colony in the continental United States, with over 300,000 breeding seabirds. The islands are known as the Galapagos of California. Why? Find out at http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/...ias-galapagos/ .

• Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection states that living things with beneficial traits produce more offspring than others do. This produces changes in the traits of living things over time.
• During his voyage on the Beagle , Darwin made many observations that helped him develop his theory of evolution.
• Darwin's most important observations were made on the Galápagos Islands.

Explore More

Use this resource to answer the questions that follow.

• Beagle Voyage at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/s...beagle-voyage/ .
• Describe Darwin's role on the Beagle.
• Salvador, Brazil,
• Punta Alta, Argentina,
• Chiloe Island, Chile,
• Galapagos Islands,
• Sydney, Australia.
• State the two main ideas in Darwin's theory.
• What was Darwin's role on the Beagle?
• Describe two observations Darwin made on his voyage on the Beagle that helped him develop his theory of evolution.
• Why did Darwin’s observations of Galápagos tortoises cause him to wonder how species originate?

Darwin's Voyage timeline

Beginning of the voyage.

Beagle Voyage

Plymouth, england.

Cape Verde Islands

Crossing the Equator

Salvador, Brazil

Punta Alta, Argentina

Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

Falkland Islands

Rio Negro, Argentina

Chiloe Island, Chile

Galapagos Islands

Sydney, Australia

Cocos Islands (Keelng Islands)

Cape Town, South Africa

Bahia and Pernambuco, South America

Falmouth, England

• The Project
• The Voyages
• Rebuilding HMS Beagle
• Science Programme
• Learning Programme
• History Timeline
• Second Voyage
• Around the World

HMS BEAGLE’S THIRD VOYAGE

HMS  Beagle  set sail on its third and final voyage in 1837, surveying large parts of the uncharted Australian coast under the command of Commander John Clements Wickham. In 1840, John Lort Stokes took over, after Wickham resigned due to ill health. Stokes had shared a cabin with Charles Darwin on the previous voyage.

The expedition identified the Adelaide and Victoria rivers and surveyed the Torres Strait and the Gulf of Carpentaria, before exploring northern and north-west Australia, the Bass Strait and Tasmania.

The  Beagle  returned to England for the final time on 30 September 1843. In 1845 she was transferred to the Coast Guard Service, serving as a watch vessel on the River Roach, Essex.

Contact Us Shop Terms and Conditions Privacy Cookie Policy

The HMS Beagle Project is managed by the HMS Beagle Trust, a registered charity. Reg No: 1126192. Reg Office: Yelverton House, St John Street, Whitland, SA34 0AW, Wales. Website managed by WebAdept UK . Copyright © HMS Beagle Trust.

We will keep fighting for all libraries - stand with us!

Internet Archive Audio

• This Just In
• Grateful Dead
• Old Time Radio
• 78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
• Audio Books & Poetry
• Computers, Technology and Science
• Music, Arts & Culture
• News & Public Affairs
• Spirituality & Religion
• Radio News Archive

• Flickr Commons
• Occupy Wall Street Flickr
• NASA Images
• Solar System Collection
• Ames Research Center

• All Software
• Old School Emulation
• MS-DOS Games
• Historical Software
• Classic PC Games
• Software Library
• Kodi Archive and Support File
• Vintage Software
• CD-ROM Software
• CD-ROM Software Library
• Software Sites
• Tucows Software Library
• Shareware CD-ROMs
• Software Capsules Compilation
• CD-ROM Images
• ZX Spectrum
• DOOM Level CD

• Smithsonian Libraries
• FEDLINK (US)
• Lincoln Collection
• American Libraries
• Canadian Libraries
• Universal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Children's Library
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• Books by Language
• Additional Collections

• Prelinger Archives
• Democracy Now!
• Occupy Wall Street
• TV NSA Clip Library
• Animation & Cartoons
• Arts & Music
• Computers & Technology
• Cultural & Academic Films
• Ephemeral Films
• Sports Videos
• Videogame Videos
• Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

• Wayback Machine (iOS)
• Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

• Explore the Collections
• Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

• Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

The voyage of the Beagle

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

• Graphic Violence
• Explicit Sexual Content
• Hate Speech
• Misinformation/Disinformation
• Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
• Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

1,807 Views

3 Favorites

DOWNLOAD OPTIONS

For users with print-disabilities

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by tools.bub on November 28, 2014

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

• Events and open days
• Fees and finance
• Student blogs and videos
• Why Cambridge
• Qualifications directory
• How to apply
• Fees and funding
• Frequently asked questions
• International students
• Continuing education
• Executive and professional education
• Courses in education
• How the University and Colleges work
• Visiting the University
• Term dates and calendars
• Video and audio
• Find an expert
• Publications
• International Cambridge
• Public engagement
• Giving to Cambridge
• For current students
• For business
• Colleges & departments
• Libraries & facilities
• Museums & collections
• Email & phone search

The Voyage of the Beagle

Darwin correspondence project.

• About Darwin overview
• Family life overview
• Darwin on childhood
• Darwin on marriage
• Darwin’s observations on his children
• Darwin and fatherhood
• The death of Annie Darwin
• Visiting the Darwins
• Voyage of HMS Beagle
• What Darwin read overview
• Darwin’s student booklist
• Books on the Beagle
• Darwin’s reading notebooks
• On the Origin of Species overview
• The writing of "Origin"
• Abstract of Darwin’s theory
• Alfred Russel Wallace’s essay on varieties
• Charles Darwin and his publisher
• Review: The Origin of Species
• Darwin's notes for his physician, 1865
• Darwin’s photographic portraits
• Have you read the one about....
• Six things Darwin never said – and one he did overview
• The evolution of a misquotation
• Portraits of Charles Darwin: a catalogue overview
• 1.1 Ellen Sharples pastel
• 1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait
• 1.3 Thomas Herbert Maguire, lithograph
• 1.4 Samuel Laurence drawing 1
• 1.5 Samuel Laurence drawing 2
• 1.6 Ouless oil portrait
• 1.7 Ouless replica
• 1.8 anonymous drawing, after Ouless
• 1.9 Rajon, etching after Ouless
• 1.10 Rajon etching, variant state
• 1.11 Laura Russell, oil
• 1.12 Marian Huxley, drawing
• 1.13 Louisa Nash, drawing
• 1.14 William Richmond, oil
• 1.15 Albert Goodwin, watercolour
• 1.16 Alphonse Legros, drypoint
• 1.17 Alphonse Legros drawing
• 1.18 John Collier, oil in Linnean
• 1.19 John Collier, oil in NPG
• 1.20 Leopold Flameng etching, after Collier
• 1.21 window at Christ's College Cambridge
• 2.1 Thomas Woolner bust
• 2.2 Thomas Woolner metal plaque
• 2.3 Wedgwood medallions
• 2.4 Wedgwood plaque
• 2.5 Wedgwood medallions, 2nd type
• 2.6 Adolf von Hildebrand bust
• 2.7 Joseph Moore, Midland Union medal
• 2.8 Alphonse Legros medallion
• 2.9 Legros medallion, plaster model
• 2.10 Moritz Klinkicht, print from Legros
• 2.11 Christian Lehr, plaster bust
• 2.12 Allan Wyon, Royal Society medal
• 2.13 Edgar Boehm, statue in the NHM
• 2.14 Boehm, Westminster Abbey roundel
• 2.15 Boehm terracotta bust (NPG)
• 2.16 Horace Montford statue, Shrewsbury
• 2.17 Montford, statuette
• 2.18 Montford, Carnegie bust
• 2.19 Montford, bust at the Royal Society
• 2.20 Montford, terracotta bust, NPG
• 2.21 Montford, relief at Christ's College
• 2.22 L.-J. Chavalliaud statue in Liverpool
• 2.23 Hope Pinker statue, Oxford Museum
• 2.24 Herbert Hampton statue, Lancaster
• 2.25 Henry Pegram statue, Birmingham
• 2.26 Linnean Society medal
• 2.27 William Couper bust, New York
• 2.28 Couper bust in Cambridge
• 3.1 Antoine Claudet, daguerreotype
• 3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1
• 3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2
• 3.4 William Darwin, photo 1
• 3.5 William Darwin, photo 2
• 3.6 William Darwin, photo 3
• 3.7 Leonard Darwin, photo on verandah
• 3.8 Leonard Darwin, interior photo
• 3.9 Leonard Darwin, photo on horseback
• 3.10 Ernest Edwards, 'Men of Eminence'
• 3.11 Edwards, in Illustrated London News
• 3.12 Edwards, second group of photos
• 3.13 Edwards 'Representative Men'
• 3.14 Julia Margaret Cameron, photos
• 3.15 George Charles Wallich, photo
• 3.16 Oscar Rejlander, photos
• 3.17 Lock and Whitfield, 'Men of Mark'
• 3.18 Elliott and Fry photos, c.1869-1871
• 3.19 Elliott and Fry photos c.1880-1
• 3.20 Elliott and Fry, c.1880-1, verandah
• 3.21 Herbert Rose Barraud, photos
• 4.1 Albert Way, comic drawings
• 4.2 Augustus Earle, caricature drawing
• 4.3 Alfred Crowquill, caricature
• 4.4 Thomas Huxley, caricature sketch
• 4.5 William Beard, comic painting
• 4.6 Thomas Nast, cartoon
• 4.7 'Vanity Fair', caricature
• 4.8 'Vanity Fair', preliminary study
• 4.9 'Graphic', cartoon
• 4.10 'Hornet' caricature of Darwin
• 4.11 'Fun' cartoon, 'A little lecture'
• 4.12 'Fun', Wedding procession
• 4.13 'Fun' cartoon by Griset, 'Emotional'
• 4.14 'Fun' cartoon, 'That troubles'
• 4.15 George Cruikshank, comic drawing
• 4.16 Joseph Simms, physiognomy
• 4.17 'Figaro', unidentifiable 1871
• 4.18 'Figaro' chromolithograph 1
• 4.19 George Montbard, caricature
• 4.20 Frederick Waddy, caricature
• 4.21 Gegeef, 'Our National Church', 1
• 4.22 Gegeef et al., 'Our National Church', 2
• 4.23 Gegeef, 'Battle Field of Science'
• 4.24 'Daily Graphic', Nast satire
• 4.25 'Punch' 1877 re. Cambridge doctorate
• 4.26 Christmas card caricature, monkeys
• 4.27 'Four founders of Darwinismus'
• 4.28 'English celebrities' montage
• 4.29 Richard Grant White, 'Fall of man'
• 4.30 'La Petite Lune', Gill cartoon
• 4.31 'La Lune Rousse', Gill cartoon
• 4.32 Anis liqueur label
• 4.33 'Harper's Weekly', Bellew caricature
• 4.34 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 1
• 4.35 Frederick Sem, caricature
• 4.36 Sem, Chistmas card
• 4.37 'Mosquito' satire
• 4.38 Franz Goedecker, caricature
• 4.39 'Moonshine' magazine cartoon
• 4.40 'Phrenological Magazine'
• 4.41 'Punch', Sambourne cartoon 2
• 4.42 'Punch' Sambourne cartoon 3
• 4.43 'Illustrated London News' article
• 4.44 'Puck' cartoon 1
• 4.45 'Puck' cartoon 2
• 4.46 'Puck' cartoon 3
• 4.47 'Puck' cartoon 4
• 4.48 'Puck', cartoon 5
• 4.49 Alfred Bryan, caricature
• 4.50 Cigar box lid design
• 4.51 Frederick Holder 'Life and Work'
• 4.52 'Wasp' caricature
• 4.53 Claud Warren, 'Outlines of Hands'
• 4.54 jubilees of Queen Victoria
• 4.55 Harry Furniss caricature
• 4.56 'Larks' cartoon
• 4.57 silhouette cartoon
• 4.58 'Simian, savage' . . . drawings
• 4.59 'Simplicissimus' cartoon
• Darwin and the experimental life overview
• What is an experiment?
• From morphology to movement: observation and experiment
• Fool's experiments
• Experimenting with emotions
• Animals, ethics, and the progress of science
• Fake Darwin: myths and misconceptions
• Darwin's bad days
• Darwin’s first love
• The letters overview
• Darwin's life in letters overview
• 1821-1836: Childhood to the Beagle voyage
• 1837-43: The London years to 'natural selection'
• 1844-1846: Building a scientific network
• 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles
• 1851-1855: Death of a daughter
• 1856-1857: The 'Big Book'
• 1858-1859: Origin
• 1860: Answering critics
• 1861: Gaining allies
• 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
• 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
• 1864: Failing health
• 1865: Delays and disappointments
• 1866: Survival of the fittest
• 1867: A civilised dispute
• 1868: Studying sex
• 1869: Forward on all fronts
• 1870: Human evolution
• 1871: An emptying nest
• 1872: Job done?
• 1873: Animal or vegetable?
• 1874: A turbulent year
• 1875: Pulling strings
• 1876: In the midst of life
• 1877: Flowers and honours
• 1878: Movement and sleep
• 1879: Tracing roots
• 1880: Sensitivity and worms
• 1881: Old friends and new admirers
• 1882: Nothing too great or too small
• Darwin's works in letters overview
• Journal of researches
• Living and fossil cirripedia
• Before Origin: the ‘big book’ overview
• Dates of composition of Darwin's manuscript on species
• Rewriting Origin - the later editions overview
• How old is the earth?
• The whale-bear
• Origin: the lost changes for the second German edition
• Climbing plants
• Insectivorous plants
• Forms of flowers
• Cross and self fertilisation
• Life of Erasmus Darwin
• Movement in Plants
• About the letters
• Lifecycle of a letter film overview
• Editing a Letter
• Working in the Darwin archive
• Capturing Darwin’s voice: audio of selected letters
• Correspondence with women
• The hunt for new letters
• Editorial policy and practice overview
• Full notes on editorial policy
• Symbols and abbreviations
• Darwin's letters: a timeline
• Darwin's letters: World Map
• Have you read the one about...
• Charles Darwin: A Life in Letters
• Darwin in Conversation exhibition
• Diagrams and drawings in letters
• Favourite Letters overview
• Be envious of ripe oranges: To W. D. Fox, May 1832
• That monstrous stain: To J. M. Herbert, 2 June 1833
• My most solemn request: To Emma Darwin, 5 July 1844
• Our poor dear dear child: To Emma Darwin, [23 April 1851]
• I beg a million pardons: To John Lubbock, [3 September 1862]
• Prize possessions: To Henry Denny, 17 January [1865]
• How to manage it: To J. D. Hooker, [17 June 1865]
• A fly on the flower: From Hermann Müller, 23 October 1867
• Reading my roommate’s illustrious ancestor: To T. H. Huxley, 10 June 1868
• A beginning, & that is something: To J. D. Hooker, [22 January 1869]
• Perfect copper-plate hand: From Adolf Reuter, 30 May 1869
• Darwin’s favourite photographer: From O. G. Rejlander, 30 April 1871
• Your letter eternalized before us: From N. D. Doedes, 27 March 1873
• Lost in translation: From Auguste Forel, 12 November 1874
• I never trusted Drosera: From E. F. Lubbock, [after 2 July] 1875
• From Argus pheasant to Mivart: To A. R. Wallace, 17 June 1876
• Wearing his knowledge lightly: From Fritz Müller, 5 April 1878
• Terms of engagement: To Julius Wiesner, 25 October 1881
• Intellectual capacities: From Caroline Kennard, 26 December 1881
• Darwin plays overview
• 'Emma' audio play
• 'Frank' audio play
• 'Like confessing a murder' audio play
• 'Re: Design' dramatisation overview
• Dramatisation script
• Browse all Darwin letters in date order
• List of correspondents
• Commentary overview
• Evolution overview
• Natural selection
• Sexual selection
• Inheritance
• Correlation of growth: deaf blue-eyed cats, pigs, and poison
• Natural Selection: the trouble with terminology Part I
• Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
• Darwin’s species notebooks: ‘I think . . .’
• Geology overview
• Darwin and geology
• Darwin’s introduction to geology
• The geology of the Beagle voyage
• Darwin and coral reefs
• Darwin’s earthquakes
• Darwin and the Geological Society
• Darwin and Glen Roy
• Bibliography of Darwin’s geological publications
• Life sciences overview
• Darwin and Down overview
• Darwin’s hothouse and lists of hothouse plants
• Species and varieties
• The evolution of honeycomb
• A tale of two bees
• Beauty and the seed overview
• Mauro Galetti: profile of an ecologist
• Casting about: Darwin on worms
• Was Darwin an ecologist?
• Dipsacus and Drosera
• Darwin and barnacles overview
• Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia
• Darwin and vivisection overview
• Vivisection: draft petition
• Vivisection: BAAS committee report
• Vivisection: first sketch of the bill
• Vivisection: Darwin's testimony
• 'An Appeal' against animal cruelty
• Biodiversity and its histories
• Human nature overview
• Darwin on human evolution
• The expression of emotions overview
• Emotion experiment overview
• Results of the Darwin Online Emotions Experiment
• Face of emotion
• Darwin’s queries on expression
• The origin of language overview
• Language: key letters
• Language: Interview with Gregory Radick
• Film series podcasts
• Religion overview
• Darwin and design
• What did Darwin believe?
• Darwin and the Church
• British Association meeting 1860
• Darwin and religion in America
• Essays and reviews by Asa Gray overview
• Darwiniana – Preface
• Essay: Design versus necessity
• Essay: Natural selection & natural theology
• Essay: Evolution and theology
• Essay: What is Darwinism?
• Essay: Evolutionary teleology
• Science and religion Interviews overview
• Interview with Emily Ballou
• Interview with Simon Conway Morris
• Interview with John Hedley Brooke
• Interview with Randal Keynes
• Interview with Tim Lewens
• Interview with Pietro Corsi
• For the curious... overview
• Cordillera Beagle expedition
• The Darwin family
• Darwin’s plant experiments
• Behind the scenes
• Darwin’s Networks
• Darwin and the Beagle voyage
• Darwin and working from home
• Darwin, cats and cat shows
• Darwin and dogs
• Darwin's illness
• Plant or animal? (Or: Don’t try this at home!)
• Strange things sent to Darwin in the post
• People overview
• Key correspondents
• Beagle voyage networks
• Family and friends
• Darwin's scientific network
• Readers and critics
• Publishers, artists and illustrators
• People pages in alphabetical order
• German and Dutch photograph albums overview
• Photograph album of German and Austrian scientists
• Photograph album of Dutch admirers
• German poems presented to Darwin
• List of all people mentioned in letters
• Learning overview
• Ages 7-11 overview
• Darwin The Collector
• Detecting Darwin
• Darwin And Evolution
• Darwin's Fantastical Voyage
• Home learning: 7-11 years
• Ages 11-14 overview
• Darwin and Religion
• Doing Darwin’s Experiments
• How dangerous was Darwin?
• Offer of a lifetime
• Darwin and slavery
• Beagle Voyage
• Darwin’s scientific women
• Schools Gallery: Using Darwin’s letters in the classroom
• Universities overview
• Letters as a primary source overview
• Scientific networks
• Scientific practice
• Controversy
• Discussion questions and essay questions
• Suggested reading
• Getting to know Darwin's science overview
• Biogeography
• Variation under domestication
• Instinct and the evolution of mind
• Floral dimorphism
• Power of movement in plants
• Dining at Down House
• Darwin and human nature overview
• Moral nature
• Race, civilization, and progress
• Women and science overview
• Women’s scientific participation
• Women as a scientific audience
• Referencing women’s work
• Darwin in public and private
• Darwin as mentor
• Discussion questions
• Darwin timeline
• Teacher training
• Resources overview
• Historical documents
• Interactive
• About us overview
• Publications overview
• The correspondence of Charles Darwin
• Charles Darwin: the Beagle letters
• Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859
• Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin 1860-1870
• The correspondence 1821-60: anniversary paperback set
• A voyage round the world
• Calendars to the correspondence of Charles Darwin
• Darwin and women: a selection of letters
• Research initiatives overview
• Darwin and ecological science
• Darwin and religion: a definitive web resource
• Evolutionary views of human nature
• The Darwin and gender project overview
• Darwin and gender projects by Harvard students
• Darwin’s Women: Short Film
• Epsilon: a collaborative digital framework
• Funding overview
• History overview
• Frederick Burkhardt (1912-2007)
• Anne Schlabach Burkhardt (1916–2012)

Privacy policy

Search form

Capt. F. wants a man (I understand) more as a companion than a mere collector & would not take any one however good a Naturalist who was not recommended to him likewise as a  gentleman . …The Voyage is to last 2 y rs . & if you take plenty of Books with you, any thing you please may be done— You will have ample opportunities at command— In short I suppose there never was a finer chance for a man of zeal & spirit. ( Letter from J. S. Henslow, 24 August 1831 )

It was this letter from his friend and former teacher,  John Stevens Henslow , Cambridge University Professor of Mineralogy and Botany, that brought the 22-year-old Charles Darwin news of the offer of a place on board the Admiralty surveying vessel HMS  Beagle on a voyage to chart the coast of South America.  During the five years of the voyage it was letters that not only kept him in touch with family and friends, but with Henslow and others from whom he could learn about observing and collecting.  Letters also helped build the networks of locals Darwin relied on during the months he spent exploring on land, and the networks of specialists he recruited to work on his specimen collections after he returned to England.  It was even letters sent back to Henslow and published without Darwin's knowledge that first brought him to wider scientific attention.

Henslow's letter was waiting for Darwin when he returned home to Shrewsbury on 29 August 1831 from a geological fieldtrip in Wales with another former teacher,  Adam Sedgwick .  Henslow had been asked to recommend a young man to join the voyage, someone who could take advantage of the opportunities to study and explore, and who would be a companion for Robert FitzRoy , the  Beagle 's captain.  Darwin was not the first choice for the trip, but a combination of his engaging social skills and an already evident appetite for natural history, brought him to the top of the list when first Henslow himself, and then  Leonard Jenyns , were forced to turn the offer down.

It took several weeks to persuade his reluctant father,  Robert Waring Darwin , to give his permission and finance the trip, and more delays were caused by the refitting of the ship and then by bad weather, but when the  Beagle  finally sailed from Plymouth on 27 December 1831, Charles was on board.  They did not arrive back in England until 2 October 1836.

Darwin later wrote that his education ‘ really began on board the Beagle ’, and he kept in touch with many of the friends he made in those years for the rest of his life. 

See all letters from the voyage on a map , and find out about more of the Beagle's passengers and crew, and other principal characters connected with the voyage .

In this section:

Related letters, from j. s. henslow   24 august 1831.

JSH has been asked by Peacock to recommend a naturalist as companion to Capt. FitzRoy on Beagle voyage. CD the best qualified person; not a finished naturalist but amply qualified for collecting, observing, and noting.

To J. S. Henslow   30 [August 1831]

Feels he should decline Beagle voyage offer because of his father’s objections, which he lists. Would otherwise have taken all risks.

[Geological] trip with Adam Sedgwick a success.

Grieved at Marmaduke Ramsay’s death.

From Josiah Wedgwood II to R. W. Darwin   31 August 1831

States his views on each of RWD’s objections to the Beagle venture. JW’s overall position is favourable to CD’s acceptance of the offer.

To J. S. Henslow   [5 September 1831]

Has met FitzRoy, who has now offered him the post of naturalist on board the Beagle . Other details about the voyage arrangements – mess, CD’s status, route, books.

To R. W. Darwin   8 February – 1 March 1832

Writes with great happiness about the first part of the voyage, after his misery from seasickness passed. He finds himself well prepared, the ship quiet, comfortable, and compact; he has already a "rich harvest" and finds the natural history (especially geology) exceedingly interesting. The tropics are full of great beauty.

To J. S. Henslow   18 May – 16 June 1832

His first letter to JSH since December. Recounts his seasickness, geologising and marine collecting at St Jago [Santiago, Cape Verde Is.]; his first tropical forest. Collecting small insects from the tropics. His Welsh trip with Sedgwick has been extremely valuable.

From E. A. Darwin   18 August [1832]

Reports on the commissions CD requested of him [in a missing letter]; comments on English political issues.

From J. S. Henslow   15–21 January 1833

Acknowledges receipt of two letters from CD and a box of specimens.

Mentions attendance at BAAS meeting and a gift to him of a small living near Oxford. Some political news.

Congratulates CD on the work he has done – the specimens are of great interest. Gives advice on packing, labelling, and future collecting and suggests that – as a precaution – CD send home a copy of his notes on the specimens.

From R. W. Darwin   7 March 1833

Writes of the pleasure all feel in CD’s continued good health and joy in his voyage.

Tells of the banana tree he bought, which he sits under and thinks of CD "in similar shade".

CD’s financial accounts are correct.

From Caroline Darwin   1–4 May 1833

News of family and friends.

From Robert FitzRoy   4 October 1833

Urges CD to return to the Beagle early in November. Conrad Martens arrives to succeed Augustus Earle as artist for the expedition.

To Susan Darwin   3 December [1833]

Has had to draw bills totalling £217 in seven months.

Is glad the Captain has decided to winter in Tierra del Fuego, because this will facilitate "glorious excursions" into the Andes.

Has obtained fragments of fossil bones and part of a Megatherium head.

Their long delay occurred because the charts were not complete for sending home.

CD is now on shore because of seasickness.

The family may not hear from him for a year.

To Caroline Darwin   13 October 1834

Became ill two weeks before on his return from Santiago after an interesting trip and some geology – though snow kept him out of the Andes. FitzRoy has had to sell the schooner; he was discouraged by the Admiralty, and the expense was too much for him to bear personally.

To J. S. Henslow   18 April 1835

Has just returned from crossing the Cordilleras. Geological observations of formations representing great epochs of violence which broke up the earth’s crust. Shells at over 12000 feet. Silicified trees in sandstone formations at great heights. Red snow and viviparous lizards. Botanical specimens.

To Caroline Darwin   27 December 1835

At sea 25 days from Galapagos to Tahiti, where they stayed ten days. It was delightful. Then three weeks to New Zealand, where they will be for ten days.

Convinced of high merit of missionaries.

Dislikes Augustus Earle’s book.

To Susan Darwin   4 August [1836]

Beagle is again in Brazil because of need to check on "singular disagreements in the Longitudes".

Pleased by Sedgwick’s praise.

To Josiah Wedgwood II   [5 October 1836]

Happily home, he sends thanks to his "first Lord of the Admiralty". Will visit Maer in two or three weeks.

Interactive map

See all letters from the voyage in a map

See also The geology of the Beagle voyage .

All the letters have been published and are available in an illustrated book  Charles Darwin: the Beagle Letters .   To find out more about the books that Darwin read during the journey, see the  article on the 'Books on the Beagle' .

Darwin Correspondence Project [email protected]

©  University of Cambridge  2022

Copyright declaration

Website by Surface Impression

• Historical sources
• Audio resources
• Video resources
• Letters data indexes

© 2024 University of Cambridge

• University A-Z
• Contact the University
• Accessibility
• Freedom of information
• Terms and conditions
• Undergraduate
• Spotlight on...
• About research at Cambridge

  MENU

In the News | --> About | Classical Genetics | Timelines | What's New | What's Hot

ESP Digital Book

Voyage of the Beagle

Charles Darwin

Table of Contents:

Pick Chapter:

↑     scroll to see multi-page content     ↑

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors and, in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species , overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.

The Voyage of the Beagle is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks , bringing him considerable fame and respect. This was the third volume of The Narrative of the Voyages of H.M. Ships Adventure and Beagle , the other volumes of which were written or edited by the commanders of the ships. Journal and Remarks covers Darwin's part in the second survey expedition of the ship HMS Beagle. Due to the popularity of Darwin's account, the publisher reissued it later in 1839 as Darwin's Journal of Researches , and the revised second edition published in 1845 used this title. A republication of the book in 1905 introduced the title The Voyage of the "Beagle" , by which it is now best known.

Papers in Classical Genetics

The ESP began as an effort to share a handful of key papers from the early days of classical genetics. Now the collection has grown to include hundreds of papers, in full-text format.

Digital Books

Along with papers on classical genetics, ESP offers a collection of full-text digital books, including many works by Darwin and even a collection of poetry — Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg.

ESP now offers a large collection of user-selected side-by-side timelines ( e.g. , all science vs. all other categories , or arts and culture vs. world history ), designed to provide a comparative context for appreciating world events.

Biographies

Biographical information about many key scientists ( e.g. , Walter Sutton ).

Selected Bibliographies

Bibliographies on several topics of potential interest to the ESP community are automatically maintained and generated on the ESP site.

ESP Picks from Around the Web (updated 07 JUL 2018 )

New Science

CRISPR-Cas: Bringing precise editing to DNA manipulation.

Topologically Associating Domains (TADs)

This is an item

Old Science

Darwin: Origin of Species

Mendel's original paper

The first genetic map

A history of genetics

Weird Science

Treating Disease with Fecal Transplantation

Fossils of miniature humans (hobbits) discovered in Indonesia

Using DNA as a mass-storage device for digital data.

Researchers have used the microbial immune system CRISPR-Cas to encode a movie into the genome of the bacterium Escherichia coli .

Science Policy & Funding

Overbuilding Research Capacity : an important editorial in which Bruce Alberts argues that the current funding trajectory is unsustainable.

Rescuing US biomedical research from its systemic flaws : Bruce Alberts and others argue that "it is time to rethink some fundamental features of the US biomedical research ecosystem."

Gates Foundation research can't be published in top journals

Biodiversity

Woese discovers the archaea

Advances in biodiversity

DNA barcoding shows that restaurant seafood is often not what it seems

Lectures on squid-vibrio symbiosis

We are all lichens now

Animals in a bacterial world

--> Paleontology -->

Dinosaur tail, complete with feathers, found preserved in amber.

Dinosaurs and Feathers: A Bibliography

Sequencing Ancient DNA

Mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) detected in the distant universe.

Colliding stars will light up the night sky in 2022

Gravitational waves, ripples in space-time, detected.

Climate Change

Wikipedia: Hottest Years on Record

Big Data & Informatics

Big Data: Buzzword or Big Deal?

Martin Hilbert on Big data

Hacking the genome: Identifying anonymized human subjects using publicly available data.

AI app blows away professional poker players

This is item 1

This is item 2

This is item 3

This is item 4

Paleoanthropology

Neanderthals

Miniature humans — hobbits

Six-legged mouse discovered. No joke, no click-bait material. Just a real mouse with six legs.

A red Tesla convertible is launched into space, just for fun...

Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Google's Assistant all can respond to commands you can't hear. Commands coming in the window or over the radio or out of the television. Oops...

Robot dogs, walking around and opening doors. Cool. What's not to like?

ESP: HOME » Digital Books » Beagle  

 Electronic Scholarly Publishing

Page Updated: 28 Apr 2024

Copyright © 2017–2018 The Electronic Scholarly Publishing Project, All Rights Reserved

• Project Gutenberg
• 73,412 free eBooks
• 53 by Charles Darwin

The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin

Read now or download (free!)

Similar books, about this ebook.

• Privacy policy
• About Project Gutenberg
• Terms of Use
• Contact Information