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Plymouth, England
22 year old Charles Darwin graduated and joined Captain Fitzroy on the HMS Beagle as ship's naturalist for a trip around the world. Charles Darwin embarks on his HMS Beagle Voyage as the ship captain's assistant. -
Cape Verde Islands
Darwin is exhilarated by his first observations where he stated, " it then first dawned me that I might perhaps write a book on the geology of the various countries visited which made me thrill with delight ". -
Salvador, Brazil
Darwin explores Brazilian rain forests for the first time. He says," Here I first saw a tropical forest in all its sublime grandeur where i never experienced such intense delight and also is enraptured by the experience. Among the multitude some of the set of the hardest objects are most striking where the general luxuriance of the vegetation bears the victory , the elegance of the grasses , the novelty of the parasitical plants , the beauty of the flowers ". -
Crossing the Equator
They crossed the equator and they had undergone the disagreeable operation of being shaved. Captain Fitzroy writes, "the constable blindfolded me and thus lead along, buckets of water were thundered all around; I was then placed on the plank which could easily be tilted up into a large bath of water, the whole ship was a shower bath. -
Punta Alta, Argentina
Darwin is intrigued by the giant fossils he sees. "I have seen wonderfully lucky with fossil bones and some of the animals must have been great dimensions while he was almost sure that most of them was quite new", Darwin says. -
Tierra del Fuego , Argentina
Captain Fitzroy sent back 3 natives that he had brought on a previous voyage to England. He attempted to start a Christian mission, but he failed disastrously. -
Falkland Islands
Charles found the barren, windswept Falkland Islands 'desolate and wretched but, he perked up when he cracked open some 'primitive looking rocks' and finds fossils. The Falklands were full of branchiopods- two shelled animals once among the most abundant organisms on earth. -
Rio Negro, Argentina
Darwin explored the fertile lowland areas , known as pampas, with the locals, or 'gauchos'. There was high enjoyment in the independence of the gaucho life to be able at any moment to pull up (your) horse. -
January 1st, 1835- February 1st, 1835 Chiloe' Island , Chile
While on the island of Chiloe Darwin sees Mount Orsono erupt and he experiences the earthquake in the woods near Valdivia. Seeing the after effects of the earthquake affected Darwin tremendously, which led him to say," I believe this earthquake has done more in degrading or lessening the size of the island , than 100 years of ordinary wear and tear ". -
Galapagos Islands, Sept 1835-Oct. 1835
Darwin found many species of plants, birds, and tortoises unique to the Galapagos Islands but, they seemed mysteriously related to mainland species. He was particularly fascinated and amused by the 'immense' Galapagos tortoises. Darwin also encountered the marine iguana which was especially distinctive. No other iguana swam or fed in the ocean, he opened the stomachs of many and found nothing but seaweed. -
Sydney, Australia
Once Darwin arrived in Sydney Cove his first feeling was to congratulate himself that he was born an English man. " it is a fine town" he stated. Marveling at marsupials, Darwin wondered why there was a completely different set of mammals in Australia. -
Cocos Islands ( Keeling Islands )
Darwin studied coral reefs growing around islands to test his theory of formation. He states," I am so glad we have visited these islands; such formations surely rank high amongst the wonderful objects of this world. -
Mauritius
As he took a walk along the sea coast to the north of the town , the plain there was quite uncultivated. It consisted of a filed of black lava smoothed over the coarse grass and bushes where the greater part of which were mimosas. -
Cape Town , South Africa
The number of Bullock wagons is the first object in Cape Town to strike a stranger's eye.He have as yet not mentioned the well known Table Mountain which is a great mass of horizontally stratified sandstone rise quite close behind the town to a height of 3 , 500 feet -
Bahia Pernambuco , South America
In the jungles of South America, Darwin discovered many incredible creatures; however, both homesick and seasick, he was dismayed when the beagle made an unscheduled detour to additional longitude measurements. Darwin said," this zig-zag manner of proceeding is very grievous where he loathe , abhor the sea , and all ships which sail on it . -
Falmouth , England
Darwin reached home late last night with his head quite confused with so much delight
