On December 27, the Beagle left Plymouth.

1832 January. The Beagle reached Cape Verde, north of the equator off Africa. Darwin started reading about geology and the ideas of a geologist named Charles Lyell, who believed the earth had formed over a long period of time. He decided to collect specimens, explore, and ask questions to investigate this idea.

September. Darwin discovered fossils off the coast of Argentina.

1832–35 Darwin visited Patagonia, Rio de Janeiro, Uruguay, and Chile, and climbed the Andes mountains, all the while collecting specimens, observing the mountains and rocks, and witnessing an earthquake.

1835 September 15. The Beagle arrived at the Galapagos Islands. Darwin collected the famous Galapagos finches and many other unusual animals.

1836 October. After visiting Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, the Beagle returned to England.

1837 Darwin pursued his career as a scientist. He turned his Beagle diary into a book and had the help of experts to identify the specimens he collected.

1838 Darwin visited Jenny the orangutan at London Zoo. By October, he was developing a theory about how animals can change over generations—as all animals of a species are unique, some are better adapted to survive than others. Those are the animals that have offspring of their own, passing on these adaptations to the next generation … this would end up being called “natural selection.” He kept his work secret so as not to upset people.

1839 January 29. Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood and moved to the country to have a family, living at Downe House in Kent.

Darwin published his Journal of Researches, based on his Beagle diary.

1858 By now, Darwin had a large family and was a very relaxed and fun father compared to most Victorian dads. He even made a slide for his children on the stairs! Sadly, three of his ten children died—this was much more common in those days, before antibiotics and other medicines had been invented.

Darwin received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, who lived in Malaysia, showing he had the same ideas about natural selection. Darwin decided to reveal his theory but wanted to be fair to Wallace, so both theories were read aloud at a scientific meeting when neither scientist was there. Darwin had written his notes in 1844, so he was considered the man to discover evolution.

1859 On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published. It is still considered one of the most important science books ever written. There was uproar in England, and everyone argued about the book, but as time passed, most scientists began to accept Darwin’s ideas.

1871 The Descent of Man was published. Darwin wrote that human beings were not descended from Adam and Eve but were part of the animal kingdom and evolved like any other species. People were outraged and cartoons were drawn of Darwin as a hairy monkey!

1881 Darwin published his last book, which was about earthworms. He never wanted to be famous and continued to be a scientist, questioning, observing, and writing, even when very ill.