On this day 173 years ago, the HMS Beagle reached the Galápagos Islands, carrying as one of its passengers Charles Darwin. Darwin’s observations in the Galápagos Islands and elsewhere led to his development three years later of the theory of natural selection, although it took another twenty years before the theory was published. His book On the Origin of the Species stated that the diversification of species in nature was caused by evolution by common descent.
Darwin’s journal, published as The Voyage of the Beagle, provides a fascinating insight into a five-year adventure of discovery. The Beagle set sail from Plymouth Sound just after Christmas Day in 1831. They stopped at the Cape Verde and St Paul’s Rocks on the way to South America, where they spent more than three years exploring the continent. In September 1835 they travelled to the Galápagos Islands, and then on to Tahiti and New Zealand before arriving in Australia in January 1836. They subsequently travelled to South Africa via Keeling Island and Mauritius, then via St Helena and Ascension Island to Brazil, before returning to England on 2 October 1836.
Darwin’s writings on the subject of evolution have been a cause of great controversy amongst Christians and non-Christians. Some take the view that Darwin’s theories cannot be correct because they are not taught in the Bible. Others take the view that Darwin’s theories disprove the existence of God because they provide an explanation of natural diversity which does not require the intervention of God.