Darwin's Voyage On The Galapagos Islands

Decent Essays
Charles Darwin founded our theory of evolution that we still use today. Darwin sailed on the HMS Beagle in 1831. This voyage took about 5 years to complete. He spent most of this voyage on the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Islands are just off the coast of South America.

During his trip Darwin studied finches and tortoises. He found that throughout the 13 islands all of the finches looked different. On each island but he didn't know they were all finches at the time. When he got back to England he concluded that they were all finches. Darwin then concluded that because of the various environments on the islands they had to evolve to survive. This was a very different idea because most kept with their religions and that God made all

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    At the age of 18 he embarked on a five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. The ship was taking a survey voyage around the world to collect and study plants, wildlife, fossils and the local environments of numerous countries. On December 27th, 1831 the voyage took off and over the years Darwin collected specimens, including plants, fossils, birds and other wildlife. South America and the Galapagos were of great interest to him. He was given the unique opportunity to study up close specimens that most in that time were unable to.…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His name was Charles Darwin, and in 1859 he published his scientific discoveries titled “On the Origin of Species”. In his book, Darwin wrote about the way animals evolved over time, by a process called natural selection. Natural selection is based off the idea that some organisms are more “fit” than others, and so nature chooses the most fit of a species to live, and the “unfit” to die. It is inferred that the fit organisms go on to reproduce and that is how certain traits of different animals came to be, as Darwin argued that all animals came from a single common ancestor. Darwin’s theory of evolution caused much argument and is surrounded in controversy to this day.…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Inherited Species Lab

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Inherited traits from parents can help make combinations of traits that can protect offspring from things like diseases. Charles Darwin was an English naturalist and geologist but he is best known for his contributions to the Theory of Evolution. In 1831, he took a voyage on the HMS Beagle that opened Darwin’s eyes to the idea of evolution. He had one simple idea that all living things are related. Natural selection plays a big role in evolution.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Nevertheless, one important stop that would impact Darwin’s future discovery, was the Galapagos island. Here as I mentioned, was where Darwin found several reptiles including large tortoises 10. He collected animals and started wondering whether organisms on the island in particular the birds, were similar as those in South…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But then sudden changes in species quickly by allopatric speciation would leave very little transitional carcasses. Darwin discovered this by studying the finches, he discovered that the finches on the Galapagos Island were very similar to the finches on the coasts of South America. However there were some changes. These changes led him to believe in allopatric speciation and the rapidly changing characteristics to help the finches survive in the new climate. And these rapid changes led very little transitional carcasses.…

    • 657 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    He also created a theory that species survive through a process called “natural selection”. The species that successfully adapted to meet the requirements of their natural habitat lived on for generations while species that failed to evolve and breed died off (Bio, 2016). Charles Darwin has proof to back up that his theory of evolution, an…

    • 736 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Charles Lyell And Darwin

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited

    Darwin derived the concept of the struggle for existence in part from Malthus's essay. He believed that creatures less fit for their environment would tend to die off. This would be called the struggle for existence. Some people thought that nature was a balanced system, but Darwin saw it as a mechanism.…

    • 583 Words
    • 3 Pages
    • 2 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Paul Broca (1824 ~ 1880) Paul Broca was a French pathologist, neurosurgeon, anthropologist and the founder of modern brain surgery. He is well-known for his research on “Broca’s area” where he studied Aphasia throughout the 1850s and was the first person to show how speech defect was linked to a specific spot on the human brain by demonstrating autopsy. Broca’s area then revolutionized the perception of language processing, comprehension as well as speech production Stanley Milgram (1933 ~ 1984) Stanley Milgram is an American social psychologist, best known for “The Milgram Obedience Experiment”, “Familiar Stranger” and “The Small World Experiment”. In 1963, Stanley Milgram conducted different experiments about obedience to demonstrate…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Intrinsic Racism

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The finches from different islands were isolated long enough for them to evolve and adapt characteristics for their particular island, so…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A Monotheistic Religion

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who lived 2,000 years ago. In 2010, the number of Christians was at 2.2 billion, 31 percent of the world’s population (Chappell, 2015). Christians believe that God created the Earth and everything else, including humans, in six days. On the other hand, science has revealed that earth most likely was formed about 4.6 billion years ago. It formed from dust and gas rotating and gathered by gravity after the Sun was made.…

    • 895 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Charles Darwin created the theory of evolution, and through his books, made it public. While on his five year voyage, Charles visited the Galapagos Islands and noticed how each island seemed to have its own exclusive species of finch that were different from the ones on the mainland. Through this and other observations, Charles concluded that living things are always changing to adapt to their environment. After about 23 years after his voyage Charles published The Origin of Species. There was much controversy about it.…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This gave him an opportunity to observe and study the wide range of natural phenomenons. These studies contributed to his theory on evolution. In 1837 Charles went to London to finish work on his Journal known as The Voyage of the Beagle. He arranged his collections of fossils and bugs and was impressed by the likenesses of the species showed. He studied all of the samples vigorously, down to every line, spot and, organ and noticed that each had developed in their own way from ancestors.…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The finch species diverged due to varying diets; some ate insects, leaves, flowers, seeds, even the blood of other birds. The original finch was a seed-eating, ground-dweller. The latter 14 species some were ground-dweller that ate seeds; some lived on cactuses and ate seeds, some lived in trees and ate seeds, and some lived in trees and ate insects. This data helped Darwin create his most brilliant idea known as natural…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Majority of people can walk outside and see an example of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and anyone can look in the mirror to see an example of his theory. Darwin found his first example of evolution on his journey through the Galapagos Islands. While on that voyage he discovered that there were finches on each of the islands; however, while these finches may have shared similarities they also had many differences. The main difference Darwin noticed was the finch’s beaks they were all different shapes and sizes. He later discovered that the beaks had changed to where they lived to help them get food and adapt to the environment on that island.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Darwin published his theories of evolution, and as a result, they were widely known throughout his time. The origin of his theory of evolution based on natural selection. Darwin believed that humans did not come to be because of the interposition of higher beings. It was incredibly arrogant to think so. Humans come from a more humble beginning; they evolved from animals, which he referred to as descent with modification.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays