Voyage of the Beagle essays

Voyage of the Beagle essays Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England and died at the Down House in Kent on April 19, 1882. Darwin spent his childhood playing at The Mount, the Darwin house. Charles was taught at home by his sister Caroline until he was eight years old. After leaving his sister he spent a year at a day school and transferred to a boarding school, the Shrewsbury School, only a mile away from The Mount. There Charles would go to work until age sixteen, when his father sent him to the University of Edinburgh to learn and work with medicine. Darwin spent a lot of time working and collecting, hunting, and naturalizing instead of utilizing and learning medicine. It was there that he first learned to study and collect beetles. After two years, it was obvious that Darwin did not want to become a doctor, so with the help of his father, Darwin transferred to the University of Cambridge to study for the clergy of the Anglican Church. At the Church he became friends with the old er botanist John Henslow. In no time at all, he was a regular visitor at Henslow's house, rubbing shoulders with fellow undergraduates and more senior members of the university's scientific community, including the Reverend Professors Adam Sedgwick and William Whewell. Darwin attended Henslow's field trips attentively, and was soon taking long, almost daily walks with his tutor. After graduating, in 1831, Darwin was offered a position on board the HMS Beagle, a ship that was mapping the coast of South America on a two or three year voyage around the world. He eagerly accepted the opportunity and spent the next five years on board, taking copious notes and sending thousands of samples and specimens back to Henslow in England for safe- keeping. When Darwin returned to England he found that Henslow and other geologists, zoologists, and botanists were fascinated by the specimens he had collected. He spent the next ten years cataloging and describing the disc...