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Charles Darwin Graduation
In June 1831, Charles graduated. He joined Captain FitzRoy on the HMS beagle as ship's naturalist for a trip around the world. The trip was planned to be 2 year's, but the voyage nearly took 5 year's. -
Geological field trip
Charles accompanied a man by the name of
Adam Sedgwick on a geological field trip to Wales. -
And..the trip begins!
The Beagle set sail from Plymouth. -
Rio De Janeiro
At the beginning of April, the Beagle dropped anchor at Rio de Janeiro. In stifling heat that alternated with torrential downpours. There were frequently no knives, forks and spoons, & the explorers were sometimes forced to use stones to kill the hens that were to provide their supper! Back in Rio de Janeiro, Darwin stayed in a cottage situated on the magnificent bay of Botofogo. He took advantage of his stay there to study the surrounding fauna: planarian flatworms, singing frogs, etc. -
Finders Keepers
Darwin spent several weeks collecting fossils at Punta Alta. He discovered huge fossilized bones, including the remains of Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium and Mylodon. Astonishingly, some of these huge unknown prehistoric mammals bore a strange resemblance to the present-day armadillo. This important discovery played a large role in challenging the notion of fixed, unchanging species. All these fossils were mixed up with shells that were scarcely different from those of modern times. -
Lyell's 'Principles of Geology'
In the fall, Darwin received by mail a copy of the second volume of Lyell's 'Principles of Geology', which he had eagerly been awaiting. Early September, Darwin, FitzRoy & Harris, a local English trader who served as their guide, stayed at a military fortress called Fort Argentina. Commander of the fortress accommodated them with some suspicion. This naturalist whose mission he didn't understand. Suspecting them of being spies,he ordered his soldiers to keep a very close eye on their every move. -
Kidnapping
Since 27 November 1832, the ship had been heading for Tierra del Fuego, at the southernmost tip of the South American continent. The three Fuegians kidnapped on the Beagle's previous voyage were about to be reunited with their families. The expedition was to receive an astonishing welcome to say the least. In order to calm the palpable fear of the natives, the explorers offered them lengths of scarlet cloth, which they hastened to tie around their necks. The atmosphere became less tense. -
Passing through
In November they passed through Buenos Aires. Darwin was astonished by the city's European appearance. He took advantage of the occasion to go to the theater, a brief social interlude in this rough, tough venture. Neither was he indifferent to the beauty of the señoritas of this great South American port! Shortly before the departure of the Beagle on the next stage of its voyage, Darwin sent his second batch of specimens back to England. There were bones from Punta Alta, a strange bird, etc. -
The Beagle's first landfall
The Beagle's first landfall at St Jago, Cape Verde Islands. -
South America
The Beagle reached South America coming from St Paul's Rocks. When Darwin arrived in Bahia, the insects were so noisy that he could hear them from the boat even though it was anchored several hundred meters off the coast. Surprisingly, the materials they were made of suggested a marine origin. He was less amused by the conditions of the black slaves he came across in the city, unlike Captain FitzRoy who enthusiastically supported slavery. -
Sea-Sawdust
The Beagle left Bahia and headed for Rio de Janeiro. On the way, the ship sailed past the Abrolhos Islands, where the ocean took on an unusual reddish brown color. When Darwin studied a sample of this odd-looking water through a magnifying glass, he was able to observe cylinder-shaped masses of small seedlings. Known as sea-sawdust to sailors, this was what caused the sea to have such a characteristic color over distances of up to several kilometers. -
Back in Montevideo
After several months of adventures in Tierra del Fuego & the Falkland Islands, Beagle arrived back in Montevideo on April 26. This was to be the beginning of a long series of trips inland, which were full of discoveries & incidents. Their first destination was the small town of Maldonado. A traveler from Montevideo had been murdered near there the day before. Darwin stayed for several weeks in the area, which was inhabited by flocks of ostriches. -
Goodbye, Montevideo for good...
On December 6, the Beagle left Montevideo for good. One evening, off the east coast of South America, the ship was caught up in a huge cloud of butterflies, stretching as far as the eye could see. The sailors cried out that it was snowing butterflies! Darwin sought an explanation for their presence so far from land: had they been blown there by the wind? Or was it a vast migration? He was unable to decide. -
Chonos Archipelago
Towards mid-December, the ship entered the Chonos archipelago, to the south of the Chiloé islands. During a splendid hike, Darwin came across tracks that were evidence of the presence of humans in this otherwise uninhabited region. Just a few days later, when the explorers came face to face with some sailors who had deserted from an American whaler. They've been wandering about along the coast for fifteen months. They were taken on board the Beagle, which saved them from certain death. -
Last time in the Pacific Ocean
On the morning of June 10, the Beagle at last sailed through into the Pacific. After stopping off at the rain swept Chiloé Islands, the ship headed for the Chilean port of Valparaíso, which it reached on 23 July. The explorers remained for over three and a half months on this part of the Chilean coast. It was the opportunity for many expeditions to the foothills of the Andes, which filled Darwin with wonder. -
New year
The new year 1835 was marked, unsurprisingly, by yet another storm. The terrible weather didn't prevent the courageous Darwin from making ever keener observations: herds of foul-smelling seals, vultures ready to devour their carcasses, black-necked swans, cormorants, terns, seagulls, otters, beavers, barking-birds, myriads of petrels, and fields full of fuchsias. -
Un-hope of study
For Darwin, this was an unhoped-for subject of study. He was able to observe fragments of rock covered with marine growth that had been thrown high up the shore by the earthquake. By comparing this phenomenon with the shells that he had previously observed at high altitudes in the Andes, he became certain the mountains were the result of enormous upward motion caused by successive earthquakes of this kind, coupled with extremely slow, imperceptible uplift. -
Earthquakes damage
On 4 February 1835, the Beagle left the Chiloé Islands and four days later arrived at Valdivia, on the coast of Chile. On February 20, at 11:30 am, a violent earthquake suddenly struck the city. The main earthquake lasted a mere 2 minutes, but the damage was considerable. In the surrounding area, a huge wave had practically wiped the town of Talcahuano off the map, the houses of Concepción were in ruins. -
Prospector!
On April 27, Darwin set out on a second series of trips to the North, leaving the picturesque city of Valparaíso, to which he was not to return. The region abounded in gold, silver and copper, dug out by the Chilean miners, whose lives were little better than those of beasts of burden. When out studying the geology, Darwin was sometimes suspected of being a prospector! The countryside became increasingly arid, with deserts that were for the most part barren. -
Sydney
On 12 January 1836, the ship arrived in Sydney. Darwin was captivated by the Australian capital. There were wide, clean streets, large houses, well-stocked shops, and tarmac roads. For Darwin, the colony was proof of British might. New South Wales also had a less flattering side. Its population was partly made up of ex-convicts brought from England. Money appeared to be their main motivation, and the natives had been decimated by European diseases and alcohol. -
Completing Chronometer readings
Captain FitzRoy decided to return to Bahia in order to complete some chronometer readings carried out at the beginning of the voyage. Some of the crew were taken aback by this, as they were now keen to get back to England as quickly as possible. But Darwin was delighted at the thought of seeing the beauty of nature in the tropics one last time. They reached the coast of Brazil on August -
Welcome home!!!
The crew began their final return to England, which was to be interrupted by two very brief stops in the Cape Verde Islands and the Azores. On 2 October 1836, the Beagle entered the English port of Falmouth after a voyage which had lasted for four years, nine months and five days. -
Discovery's & Bad luck in Montevideo
Porpoises, seals, penguins and natural fireworks enlivened the Beagle's journey from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo. Still suffering from seasickness, Darwin was no doubt relieved when the boat dropped anchor on July 26. Several days later, some of the crew were requisitioned by the local police chief to help quell an insurrection in the town. The situation in Montevideo was tense. The young naturalist sent his first batch of specimens collected since the beginning of the voyage off to England. -
Marriage, Family & Happiness after long years...
After this extraordinary voyage around the world, Charles Darwin settled in London, where he got married on 29 January 1839. His wife, Emma Wedgwood, bore him ten children. His record of the journey, popularly known as The Voyage of the Beagle, met with great success, considerably more so than the account of the expedition written by Captain FitzRoy. In fact, FitzRoy felt some resentment as a result of this. -
Death
Due to this success, In 1842, suffering from chronic bouts of nausea, dizziness, insomnia and weakness, for which no explanation was ever to be found, he decided to settle in a small village in Kent. There he led a country life, systematically working on the material he had brought back from his voyage. As he had got into the habit of doing on the Beagle, he continued to note down his observations every day in a little yellow notebook. He kept this tradition up until his death in 1882. -
Today's world
The naturalist Alfred Wallace asked him for his opinion about the draft of an article in which he set forth the main ideas that Darwin had already long formulated without publishing them. This development hastened the publication in 1859 of The Origin of Species, which enjoyed immediate success. By revealing the mechanism whereby species evolved by adapting to their environment, Darwin's book questioned the religious dogma of the Creation.