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Plymouth, England
At the age of 22, Charles Darwin embarks on the HMS Beagle voyage as the ship captain's assistant. -
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Cape Verde Islands
Darwin is exhilarated by his first observations. -
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Crossing the equator
Darwin explores Brazilian rainforests for the first time. -
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Punta Alta, Argentina
He was intrigued by the giant fossils he saw "I have been wonderfully lucky with fossil bones. Some of the animals must have been of great dimensions."- Darwin -
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Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Captain Robert FitzRoy repatriates three native people he h brought to England on a previous voyage. -
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Falkland Islands
Darwin finds the barren, windswept Falkland Islands 'desolate and wretched.' But he perks up when he cracks open some 'primitive looking rocks' and finds fossils -
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Rio Negro, Argentina
Darwin explores the fertile lowland areas, known as Pampas, with the local people or 'gauchos'. -
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Chiloe Islands
Darwin sees the Mount Osomo erupt while on Chiloe Island and experiences the earthquake in the woods near Valdivia. After seeing the earthquake affected Darwin tremendously. -
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Galapagos Islands
Darwin finds many species of plants, birds and tortoises unique to the Galapagos Islands, but they seem mysteriously related to mainland species. He is mostly fascinated and amused by the 'immense' Galapagos tortoises. -
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Sydney, Australia
Marvelling at marsupials, Darwin wondered hy there is a completely different set of mammals in Australia. -
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Cocos Islands (Keeling Islands)
Dawin studies coral reefs growing around islands to test his theory of atoll formation. -
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Mauritius
"I took a quiet walk along the sea coast to the north of the town; the plain is there quiet uncultivated, consisting of a field of black lava smoothed over with coarse grass and bushes, the greater part of whcij are mimosas," - Darwin -
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Cape Town, South Africa
" The first object in Cape Town which strikes the eye of a stranger, is the number of bullock wagons. I have a yet not mentioned the well known Table Mountain." - Darwin -
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Bahia and Pernambuco, South America
In the jungles of South America, Darwin discovers many incredible creatures. However, both homesick and seasick, he dismayed when the Beagle makes an unscheduled detour to make additional longitude measurements. -
Falmouth, England
"I reached home late last night. My head is quite confused with so much delight." - Darwin