Fossils, Finches and Fuegians: Charles Darwin’s Adventures and Discoveries on the Beagle

Fossils, Finches and Fuegians: Charles Darwin’s Adventures and Discoveries on the Beagle
Richard Keynes

A narrative account of Darwin’s historic 4-year voyage on the Beagle to South America, Australia and the Pacific in the 1830s that combines the adventure and excitement of Alan Moorehead’s famous (and now out of print) account with an expert assessment of the scientific discoveries of that journey. The author is Charles Darwin’s great-grandson.• In his autobiography, Charles Darwin wrote: ‘The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career; yet it depended on so small a circumstance as my uncle offering to drive me 30 miles to Shrewsbury, which few uncles would have done, and on such a trifle as the shape of my nose. I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind. I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were already fairly developed. The investigation of the geology of all the places visited was far more important, as reasoning here comes into play.’No biography of Darwin has yet done justice to what the scientific research actually was that occupied Darwin during the voyage. Keynes shows exactly how Darwin’s geological researches and his observations on natural history sowed the seeds of his revolutionary theory of evolution, and led to the writing of his great works on The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man.

Copyright (#ulink_1d209996-21c4-5573-81dd-6dc13b889eb4)

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2002

Copyright © Richard Keynes 2002

Richard Keynes asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007101900

Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780007571673

Version: 2017-08-09

Dedication (#ulink_4f487734-1f70-5048-be1c-b8ae24264658)

To my mother

Contents

Cover (#u5e6d78a4-4068-5be7-b551-6b88a79d94fb)

Title Page (#ueba14183-aa64-5f7e-9581-919db15a45e2)

Copyright (#ulink_87ff12c2-3937-5045-a3cb-551f3e2ca8ad)

Dedication (#ulink_47eb6b10-bb23-578d-acc7-f724ae348c90)

List of Maps (#ulink_024c084a-3ab4-5337-a557-01b82e27072f)

Prologue (#ulink_1349cc1e-b869-55fd-b0bd-e4c82801613a)

1 The Man who Walks with Henslow (#ulink_880829b4-cf95-54fc-9a24-6c1d3ca373c9)

2 The Strange Consequences of Stealing a Whale-Boat (#ulink_4249a09b-650b-56f1-bead-a3f150d5cbb3)

3 Preparations for the Voyage (#ulink_d6658098-d633-52cd-a65e-5240f7805c6c)

4 From Plymouth to the Cape Verde Islands (#ulink_ce3a2bea-2ae7-5a3c-ba1e-4e91e7692817)

5 Across the Equator to Bahia (#ulink_5b7b8f27-d455-5929-b094-602ebd65ecb7)

6 Rio de Janeiro (#ulink_fb0cc436-cfd5-5c2e-aee6-31db5e49607f)

7 An Unquiet Trip from Monte Video to Buenos Aires (#ulink_ca637196-759c-5ead-bf3e-7727911c036e)

8 Digging up Fossils in the Cliffs at Bahia Blanca (#ulink_b943086f-a260-5975-8881-915becf345dd)

9 The Return of the Fuegians to Their Homeland (#litres_trial_promo)

10 First Visit to the Falkland Islands (#litres_trial_promo)

11 Collecting Around Maldonado (#litres_trial_promo)

12 A Meeting with General Rosas on the Ride from Patagones to Buenos Aires and Santa Fé (#litres_trial_promo)

13 The Last of Monte Video (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Christmas Day at Port Desire, and on to Port St Julian and Port Famine (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Goodbye to Jemmy Button and Tierra del Fuego (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Second Visit to the Falkland Islands (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Ascent of the Rio Santa Cruz (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Through the Straits of Magellan to Valparaiso (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Valparaiso and Santiago (#litres_trial_promo)

20 Chiloe and the Chonos Archipelago (#litres_trial_promo)

21 The Great Earthquake of 1835 Hits Valdivia and Concepción (#litres_trial_promo)

22 On Horseback from Santiago to Mendoza, and Back Over the Uspallata Pass (#litres_trial_promo)

23 A Last Ride in the Andes, from Valparaiso to Copiapó (#litres_trial_promo)

24 The Wreck of HMS Challenger (#litres_trial_promo)

25 From Copiapó to Lima (#litres_trial_promo)