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Plymouth, England
Charles Darwin, aged 22, embarks on the HMS Beagle voyage as the ship captain's assistant. -
Cape Verde Islands
Darwin is exhilarated by his first observations. -
Crossing the Equator
'We have crossed the Equator, and I have undergone the disagreeable operation of being shaved... the constable blindfolded me and thus lead along, buckets of water were thundered all around; I was then placed on a plank, which could be easily tilted up into a large bath of water... The whole ship was a shower bath.' -
Salvador, Brazil
Darwin explores Brazilian rainforests for the first time. -
Punta Alta, Argentina
Darwin is intrigued by the giant fossils he sees. -
Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Captain Robert Fitzroy repatriates three native people he had brought to England on a previous voyage. Fitzroy attempts to start a Christian mission, which fails disastrously. -
Rio Negro, Argentina
Darwin explores the fertile lowland areas, known as Pampas, with the local people or 'gauchos'. -
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. The Falklands were full of brachiopods - two-shelled animals once among the most abundant organisms on Earth. -
Chiloe Island, Chile
Darwin sees Mount Osorno erupt while on the island of Chiloe and experiences the earthquake in the woods near Valdivia. Seeing the aftermath of the earthquake affected him tremendously. -
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 particularly fascinated and amused by the 'immense' Galapagos tortoises. They were so large that he could not resist climbing on top for a ride. -
Sydney, Austrailia
On arrival in Sydney Cove, Darwin's first feeling was to 'congratulate myself that I was born an Englishman.. it is a fine town.' Marveling at marsupials, Darwin wonders why there is a completely different set of animals in Australia. -
Cocos Islands (Keeling Islands)
Darwin studies coral reefs growing around islands to test his theory of atoll formation. -
Mauritius
'I took a quiet walk along the sea coast to the north of the town; the plain is there quite uncultivated, consisting of a field of black lava smoothed over with course grass and bushes, the greater part of which are mimosas,' observes Darwin. -
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 as yet not mentioned the well known Table Mountain; this great mass of horizontally stratified sandstone rises quite close behind the town to a height of 3,500 feet.' -
Bahia and Pernambuco, South America
In the jungles of South America Darwin discovers many incredible creatures. However, both homesick and seasick, he is dismayed when the Beagle makes an unscheduled detour to make additional longitude measurements. -
Falmouth, England
The Beagle ship was only 27m (90 feet) long and carried 74 people, and 22 clocks, in very close quarters!