Darwin

Charles Darwin went to Cambridge to receive his Bachelor of Arts in 1831. In that same year, on December 27th, Darwin left on the ship 'The Beagle'. He explored the southern parts of South America. On Darwin's way to Bahia Blanca, he started to see a marvelous variety of wildlife. In the swamps, he saw animals such as black-necked swans, ducks, cranes, and colorful snakes. Darwin would draw the different plant and animal life he saw.

Darwin wrote in his notebook, "every part of this world is habitable! whether lakes of braine, or those underground ones hidden beneath volcanic mountains, or warm mineral springs, or the wide expanse and depths of the ocean, or the upper regions of the atmosphere, and even the surface of perpetual snow- all support living things." The Beagle set off again and stopped breifly at Port Desire and St. Julian. He noticed the different minerals in the soil here and layers on fossil rock far from the sea line.

Darwin spent fourteen months in the west of South America. He wanted to 'solve the puzzle' of the mighty Andes mountains. As he started his journey, up one side of the Andes and down the other, he started noticing birds. He noticed beaks, colorization, patterns, and the sounds they made. He also took interest in how the earth's crust was shaped.

Later, Darwin explored the Galapagos islands. He focused mainly on birds here. he sketched how the birds looked and acted. He noticed different breads and characteristics. In November of 1859, he published his drawings and ideas pluss his theorys in a book called THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES which explained what he calls, as we all know today, the evolution theory.