Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE

On the five-year voyage, the Beagle made many

stops, during which Darwin studied plant

and animal life, and land formation. On

the outward-bound journey, the ship sailed

to the Canaries, across the Atlantic (where

Darwin realized that the Cape Verde Islands

had been made by volcanoes erupting under

the sea), along South America’s east coast,

around Cape Horn, and up the west coast, where

he witnessed an earthquake.

ALFRED WALLACE

Welsh naturalist

Alfred Wallace

(1823-1913) carried

out studies that led

him to agree

with Darwin’s

theories. He

traveled to the

Amazon and to

Malaysia, where he

began to think that nature encouraged

the survival of the fittest. He sent Darwin

an article, and friends encouraged them

both to publish their views. On July 1,

1858, members of the scientific Linnaean

Society heard papers by both men.

ON DECEMBER 27, 1831, the Beagle sailed from Plymouth, England to

survey the east and west coasts of South America. On board was the ship’s

naturalist, Charles Darwin. The ship sailed beyond the Americas to the

Pacific Ocean, where Darwin made many scientific discoveries, especially on

the Galapagos and Keeling Islands. As a schoolboy, Darwin had often been

in trouble with his teachers for spending time on chemistry experiments and

collecting specimens instead of studying Greek and Latin. His boyhood

interest in the natural world, however, led him to make startling discoveries

about life on Earth and the development of the

planet. When he returned from sea in 1836,

he married, settled in London, England,

and wrote up the notes of his

discoveries. These formed the basis

of his famous theory of evolution.

Darwin made

careful notes

of everything

he observed.

THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

As a result of his study of

wildlife on the Galapagos

Islands, Darwin began to

believe that species (types of

plants and animals) were not

fixed forever, but that they

evolved (changed) to suit

their environment. In 1859,

he published On the Origin of

Species, a book in which he set

out his evolutionary theory,

suggesting that humans

evolved from apes.

SOUTH ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Darwin

studied the

wildlife in the isolated

Galapagos Islands.

Galapagos
Islands

1809 Born in Shrewsbury,

Shropshire, England.

1825-27 Studies medicine

at Edinburgh University.

1827 Studies religion at

Cambridge University, but

spends more time on biology,

zoology, and geology.

1831-36 Beagle voyage.

1858 Evolutionary theory

first explained to the world.

1859 Publishes On the Origin

of Species—it is a bestseller.

1882 Dies; buried at

Westminster Abbey, London.

Darwin, Charles

DARWIN

Galapagos finch

Corals, anemones,

and jellyfish

Evolution

Fossils

Geology

Find out more

The Beagle

NORTH

PACIFIC

OCEAN

PACIFIC

OCEAN

The ship returned via New

Zealand, Australia, and the

Keeling Islands.

Galapagos tortoise

CORAL

On the Keeling Islands, Darwin

studied coral reefs, whose structures

were not understood at the time. He

thought they were formed by coral

building up on the sea-bed while the

floor itself was gently subsiding.

Modern deep-sea drillings have

since proved that Darwin was right.

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