The Voyage of the Beagle

The Voyage of the Beagle is the title most commonly given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as his Journal and Remarks, bringing him considerable fame and respect.

The book is a vivid travel memoir as well as a detailed scientific field journal covering biology, geology, and anthropology that demonstrates Darwin's keen powers of observation, written at a time when Western Europeans were exploring and charting the whole world.

Although Darwin revisited some areas during the expedition, for clarity the chapters of the book are ordered by reference to places and locations rather than by date.Darwin's notes made during the voyage include comments hinting at his changing views on the fixity of species.

On his return, he wrote the book based on these notes, at a time when he was first developing his theories of evolution through common descent and natural selection.

In January 1830 FitzRoy noted in his journal the need for expertise in mineralogy or geology, on a future expedition he would "endeavour to carry out a person qualified to examine the land; while the officers, and myself, would attend to hydrography."

[4][5] In August 1831, while Beagle was being readied, FitzRoy's offer of a place for a self-funded naturalist was raised with University of Cambridge professors.

[6] Henslow passed it on to Darwin who was well qualified and, enthused by reading Humboldt's Personal Narrative, was on a short study tour with geologist Adam Sedgwick in preparation for a planned visit with friends to Tenerife.

[7][8] On board the ship, Darwin began a day-to-day record of activities in the form of a diary, which he commonly called "my Journal".

On 28 October Caroline gave the requested critical assessment – in the first part Darwin had "probably from reading so much of Humboldt, got his phraseology & occasionly made use of the kind of flowery french expressions which he uses, instead of your own simple straight forward & far more agreeable style.

[15][16] As Beagle headed homewards in April 1836, Darwin told Caroline that FitzRoy too was busy with writing "the account of the Voyage".

He would "go on with the geology and let the journal take care of itself",[20][19] but Emma Wedgwood did not think Holland "any judge as to what is amusing or interesting", and like Catherine thought it should be published by itself, not "mixed up with Capt.

They had "read a great deal of it aloud too" as a more severe test, and concluded it had "more variety and a greater number of interesting portions" than other travel books, "the less it is mixed up with the Captains the better.

King to T. del Fuego and during our circumnavigation.— I am to have the third volume, in which I intend giving a kind of journal of a naturalist, not following however always the order of time, but rather the order of position.— The habits of animals will occupy a large portion, sketches of the geology, the appearance of the country, and personal details will make the hodge-podge complete.— Afterwards I shall write an account of the geology in detail, and draw up some Zoological papers.— So that I have plenty of work, for the next year or two, and till that is finished I will have no holidays.

Henslow helped check them; on 4 November, Darwin wrote to him that "If I live till I am eighty years old I shall not cease to marvel at finding myself an author".

Part of it was printed, "the smooth paper and clear type has a charming appearance, and I sat the other evening gazing in silent admiration at the first page of my own volume, when I received it from the printers!

The second edition of 1845 incorporated extensive revisions made in the light of interpretation of the field collections and developing ideas on evolution.

[1] In the first edition, Darwin remarks in regard to the similarity of Galápagos wildlife to that on the South American continent, "The circumstance would be explained, according to the views of some authors, by saying that the creative power had acted according to the same law over a wide area".

Later editions hint at his new ideas on evolution: Considering the small size of these islands, we feel the more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, and at their confined range... within a period geologically recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out.

[35] In his foreword to this edition of Journal and Researches, Murray said that most "of the views given in this work are from sketches made on the spot by Mr. Pritchett, with Mr. Darwin's book by his side", and the illustrations had been "chosen and verified with the utmost care and pains".

[2] For readability, the chapters of the book are arranged geographically rather than in an exact chronological sequence of places Darwin visited or revisited.