He focused on finches in his book, Voyage of the Beagle (1839). How Did the Galapagos Islands Influence Darwin?ĭarwin saw the similarity between the Galapagos Islands’ animals, their diversity, and how each adapted to their distinct environments. Isabela and Wolf (Oct 17-20): East coast of Isabela to collect a specimen-gathering party and to observe Wolf island. Santiago (Oct 8-17): A week collecting specimens, realising the various islands were home to different species Isabela (Sep 29 – Oct 2): Marine iguanas and bird watching ![]() Darwin studied tortoises, lava, and plants.įloreana (Sep 24-27): Visited a penal colony, learned that each island’s tortoise was different. San Cristobal (Sep 17-22): Crew capture giant tortoises for food. He visited four of the archipelago’s 127 islands. HMS Beagle was too bulky to land, and Darwin and the crew would launch smaller boats to islands like many of today’s modern cruises. Darwin had been collecting fossils, animals, and plants throughout his voyage, as well as making extensive notes of what he observed. HMS Beagle reached the eastern Galapagos island of San Cristobal on 15 September 1835, nearly four years after setting off from England. How Long Was Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands? All the cargo charges were paid by Darwin’s father. Crates full of specimens would be sent back to England whenever HMS Beagle docked for supplies. What was planned to be a two-year trip turned into a five-year voyage.ĭarwin slept in a hammock above his notes in the ship’s map room and was given a storeroom for his collections of fossils, animals, and plants. HMS Beagle was a small, 90-foot (27.4m) ten-gun brig with a 75-strong crew and captained by Robert Fitzroy, a pioneering meteorologist. Darwin’s father objected to the trip, but Charles was persuaded to sail by his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood II, who stumped up the funding, too. Charles also became more and more interested in adaptations in the natural world and their relationship, or not, with God.īy chance, HMS Beagle had space for a self-supported naturalist, with the prerequisite of being a ‘gentleman’ of importance to the captain. However, beetle collecting, riding, and shooting usurped the studies. John Edmonstone taught Darwin taxidermy, a skill that would be vital in the Galapagos Islands.ĭarwin’s father then sent Charles to Christ’s College in Cambridge with the idea of his son becoming a parson. While in Edinburgh, Darwin met John Edmonstone, a black slave eventually freed from Scotsman Charles Edmonstone’s timber plantation in Guyana. But Darwin neglected his studies at the University of Edinburgh to pursue his passion for the natural world. He initially trained as an apprentice doctor under his father’s wing. Let’s see how the wildlife and natural history of the Galapagos, including those famous Darwin finches, changed the way society viewed its origins.Ĭharles Darwin was the fifth of six children born to wealthy parents in Shrewsbury, England. Today, some 186 years after Darwin first stepped foot on the Galapagos Islands, their connection is as strong as ever. The Galapagos Islands helped the English naturalist, geologist, and biologist formulate his groundbreaking work on evolution. Charles Darwin and the Galapagos Islands are linked forever thanks to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.
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