Charles Darwin: 171th Anniversary of his Galapagos islands visit

September 7th, 1835: H.M.S. Beagle set sail from Callao, Peru, to the Galapagos Islands . About eight days later, o ff in the distance, the island of San Cristobal Island showed a high volcanic peak as evidence of arrival. They young Englishman had arrived to one of Earth's most pristine areas: the Galapagos Islands. For a period of five weeks the HMS Beagle sails in Galapagos Islands waters under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy. Their mission: to survey isolated places hardly visited by navigators. This list of places includes Cape Horn, Australia & New Zealand, Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, and more.

Young Charles Darwin spent only two weeks ashore, and it was enough time for him to catch a glimpse of what is natural selection. Little did he know, it would take him almost 25 years after his Galapagos Islands visit, to publish the book The Origin of Species. Scientific thinking was to change forever, as Darwinian principles now dominate virtually any field of study. Our ships decided to take part of this celebration, and 171 years later, our Galapagos Naturalists included during briefings a small excerpt of C. Darwin's visit to the islands, matching that particular day. Upon landing on September 15th, 1835... H.M.S. Beagle reached Hood Island today. Early in the morning Edward Chaffers (master) and Arthur Mellersh (midshipman) set out on a boat to examine the island's shoreline. By noon another boat was launched to survey the central islands of the archipelago. Later in the afternoon H.M.S. Beagle reached Chatham Island.

Darwin was intrigued by the black lava rocky shore, and raw hostile environment of the island. These days, our guests get to learn more insights about Charles Darwin. Clearly, our intention is to share a very important subject with our visitors; one that blends history, amazement and discovery. The HMS Beagle sailed away from Galapagos Islands after a glooming sunset in October 20th, 1835. Aboard our ships, our Expedition Staff will thoroughly cover throughout September and October what Charles Darwin's visit to Galápagos must have been like, back in 1835. Certainly, this is an anniversary that commemorates a voyage that brought Darwin to what would become later, his greatest source of inspiration, and evolutionary evidence.

Authors
This article was developed by Metropolitan Touring, for their newsletter, and was wrote by a team of travelers, field guides, operations and marketing staff inside the company, all of them has more than 10 years working in the Galapagos Islands Cruises and Tours guiding and sales, Sylvia Moncayo, Francisco Dousdebés, Santiago Tamayo, Gonzalo Alvarez are the team who produce our articles, Email info@metropolitan-touring.com Article Copyright Metropolitan Touring Corporation 2005 - 2006

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