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Voyage of the Beagle
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Introduction
| The theory of evolution is one of the most important ideas in the
study of nature. It provides the basic framework for biologists who study
living things. It helps us to put animals and plants into groups, and to
work out the relationships between them. It guides our thoughts on why
living things look and work as they do. It makes sense of fossils. And
it is a vital part of the search for the origins of life itself.
Yet less than 150 years ago, the idea of evolution was almost unknown. Many scientists in the Western world believed in the creation story in the Bible - that all the different species of plants and animals were created by God. The species were unchanged, the same now as they were on the day of creation. A few scientists were toying with the idea that species might not always be the same. They might change, or evolve, through time. But they could not explain how this happened. |
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Charles Darwin is remembered because he thought of a convincing mechanism to explain how evolution may have occurred. Darwin proposed that there was a stuggle for existence. Species produced more offsping than could survive. Nature itself chose, or selected, which individuals succeeded in the struggle to survive, and which died. By this continuing process species gradually changed, or evolved, to survive better in their surroundings. He called this mechanism natural selection and described it in his book On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, which was published in 1859. Darwin had always been interested in natural history and since boyhood he had avidly collected rocks, flowers and insects. In 1831, at the age of twenty-two, he was offered a place as a naturalist on the survey ship HMS Beagle. This offer changed his life. |
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| The ten gun Beagle was about 28 metres long, weighed 235 tons and had been launched in 1820. The ship was overhauled and refitted for its voyage to survey the coast of South America. Darwin's quarters were at the stern, under the flag. His sleeping cabin was so small that he could only lie down if he pulled a drawer out of the locker at the end of his bed. |
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| Galapagos Islands |
| The Beagle set sail from England at the end of 1831, and would not
see the English Channel again until 1836. Darwin's task was to collect
specimens of plants, animals, rocks and fossils, and to make surveys and
notes at each place they visited. The ship made several trips up and down
the coasts of South America. It was while he was ashore during these trips
that Darwin would make one of his most momentous discoveries: a graveyard
of giant fossilised skeletons that belonged to species long extinct. After
leaving South America, the Beagle travelled to the Galapagos Islands, a
cluster of rocky islands about 1000 kilometers from the South American
mainland. On the Galapagos Islands, Darwin was at once struck by the strange
nature of the birds, reptiles and other animals. He had never seen these
particular species before - they seemed unique to the islands. Yet many
had similarities to species from the South American mainland.
When Darwin returned to England, he began to study the enormous collections of plants and animals he had made during the voyage. He soon began to develop the idea of natural selection, but he was reluctant to publish the theory until he had perfected it. He spent the next twenty years working on his theory and gathering as much evidence as he could. To find out more about Darwin's voyage on the Beagle go to http://www.oceansonline.com/charles_darwin.htm or other sites on the resouces page. Dawin's ideas caused a revolution in science and society. They have shaped the thinking of biologists and other scientists ever since. See how Darwin arrived at some of his ideas by touring this site. |
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