The Voyage of the Beagle

The Voyage of the Beagle is the title given to the book written by Charles Darwin and published in 1839 as Journal and Remarks. It covers Darwin’s part in the second survey expedition of the ship HMS Beagle. Due to immense popularity of Darwin’s account, the publisher reissued it later in 1839 as Darwin’s Journal of Researches. The revised second edition published in 1845 also used this title. A republication of the book in 1905 introduced the title, The Voyage of the Beagle, by which it is now known. The Beagle sailed from Plymouth Sound on 27 December 1831 under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. Originally, the expedition was planned for two years, but it lasted almost five years, with the return of the Beagle on 2 October 1836. Darwin spent most of this time exploring on land while the ship was on some shore. The book is a vivid and exciting travel memoir as well as a detailed scientific field journal covering biology, geology, and anthropology. It was written at a time when Western Europeans were exploring and charting the whole world, and it demonstrates Darwin’s keen powers of observation. 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. Thus, the insights made during the voyage set in motion the mental activity that led to the theory of evolution, and eventually the book, On the Origin of Species, that made Darwin one of the most influential figures in human history. Read more