Darwin thingy - Timeline

Charles Darwin sets sail, leaving Plymouth Harbour - Darwin becomes seasick almost immediately

Beagle stops at Santa Cruz, but quarantined - Would have to wait for twelve days; Capt. Fitzroy decides to continue to Cape Verde Islands

Arrival at Cape Verde Islands - Darwin observed colour-changing cuttlefish - Found white band of shells at Porto Praya high above sea level

Beagle crosses the equator

Beagle arrives at Rio de Janeiro - Explored 100 miles of coast, collected specimens

Arrival at Montevideo - Survey trip led up Rio Parana

First load of specimens shipped - Darwin feared the shipment would be of little importance

Paz and Liebre join the Beagle - John Wickham in command

Darwin collects massive fossils at Punta Alta - Found creatures then-unknown to science

Second load of specimens sent - Beagle leaves Montevideo

Arrival at Woolya Cove, where mission was to be started

Arrival in Falkland Islands - comparative studies conducted between Falklands and South America

Unicorn bought, renamed Adventure

Maldonado trek - Darwin collects over a hundred seperate species

Third load of specimens sent

Beagle surveys Plate River - Darwin treks by self to Buenos Aires - Many fossils found in beach sand

Darwin crosses Rio Parana; locates fossils - similar to those found in Europe despite being different environments

Darwin ships fourth group of specimens - Rio Negro trek begins

Survey of San Julian coast

Survey of the Strait of Magellan, onwards through Beagle Channe

Return to Woolya Cove; mission abandoned

Rio Santa Cruz trek - Darwin finds layers of shells again

Beagle passes through Magdalen Channel into Pacific

First Andes Expedition - More shell formations found; suggested that continents were in flux

Another Shipment sent to Henslow - Included flora, fauna and gas samples

FitzRoy has breakdown; Adventure sold

Survey work begins at Caylen Island

Arrival at Mocha Island - Darwin discovers more shell beds, supporting the idea that the earth was very old

Second Andes Expedition

Darwin finds lava flows and petrified trees in Chile

Third Andes Expedition

Rescue of the Challenger - Tropic of Capricorn crossed

Arrival at the Galapagos - Darwin collects vast variety of specimens - On James Island Darwin observes variations of lizards - Found that only some islands had certain species

Arrival at Tahiti

Arrival at Port Jackson - Astonished by the platypus, thought there was a separate act of creation responsible

Arrival at Keeling Islands - Darwin theorised that the islands were part of submerged coral reef - Found coconut trees, which he thought had migrated to these islands

Arrival at Cape Town - Met with John Herschel

Beagle crosses Tropic of Capricorn

Arrival at St Helena Island - Vegetation introduced from UK

Return to Brazil - Beagle had taken faulty measurements

Beagle passes equator

Beagle crosses Tropic of Cancer

Arrival at Azores

Conclusion of Voyage