The Origin of Species: How Darwin Traveled the World in Search of Evidence

Traveling the world aboard a warship was the experience Charles Darwin had from 1831 to 1836, when he became the naturalist aboard HMS Beagle, a vessel of the British Royal Navy that was part of a scientific expedition around the globe.

Darwin was just 22 years old when he was invited by Captain Robert FitzRoy to join the Beagle and participate in its mission to explore the coast of South America and the Galápagos Islands. He accepted the invitation with enthusiasm but also with apprehension, as his father was against the idea of him abandoning his theological studies at the University of Cambridge.

The journey lasted five years and was an incredible adventure for Darwin. He traveled through various countries and continents, observing landscapes, animals, plants, and different cultures.

However, what most marked the trip was his encounter with the biological diversity of the Galápagos Islands, an archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There, he found unique species of birds, reptiles, mammals, and plants that existed nowhere else in the world. He was fascinated by the similarities and differences among them and noticed how they adapted to local conditions.

These observations were crucial for the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection, which Darwin would present in his famous book "On the Origin of Species." He began to write about his findings as soon as he returned to England in 1836.