# Canonical recap data for Darwin's Beagle Voyage & Origins Theory (1859)
# Source: https://recap.at/1859/hms-beagle-voyage
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: hms-beagle-voyage
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1859/hms-beagle-voyage"
title: Darwin's Beagle Voyage & Origins Theory
aliases:
- Origin of Species
- On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
- The Beagle voyage
- Darwin's theory of evolution
subtitle: Though Origin of Species publication is covered, the 5-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle (1831–1836) was the generative event; Darwin's fieldwork predates the theory itself.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1859-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1859
decade: 1850
country:
name: United Kingdom
slug: united-kingdom
summaryShort: Etiology is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek word αἰτιολογία (aitiología), meaning "giving a reason for". More completely, etiology is the study of the causes, origins, or reasons behind the way that things are, or the way they function, or it can refer to the causes themselves.
summaryLong: Etiology is the study of causation or origination. The word is derived from the Greek word αἰτιολογία (aitiología), meaning "giving a reason for". More completely, etiology is the study of the causes, origins, or reasons behind the way that things are, or the way they function, or it can refer to the causes themselves. The word is commonly used in medicine and in philosophy, but also in physics, biology, psychology, political science, geography, cosmology, spatial analysis and theology in reference to the causes or origins of various phenomena.
lede: Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species on November 24, 1859, presenting scientific evidence that species evolve through natural selection rather than divine creation. The book fundamentally challenged prevailing religious and philosophical assumptions about humanity's place in nature, sparking debates that persist today.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise_-_Chelonoidis_nigra_on_the_Santa_Cruz_Island_-_Galapagos.jpeg/1280px-Gal%C3%A1pagos_tortoise_-_Chelonoidis_nigra_on_the_Santa_Cruz_Island_-_Galapagos.jpeg"
heroImageCredit: "\"Galápagos tortoise - Chelonoidis nigra on the Santa Cruz Island - Galapagos\" by David Adam Kess is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/."
importance: 88
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Publication date
  value: November 24, 1859
- label: First edition print run
  value: 1,250 copies
- label: Beagle voyage duration
  value: 5 years (1831–1836)
- label: Years Darwin withheld theory before publishing
  value: 23 years (1836–1859)
- label: Pages in first edition
  value: "502"
- label: Price of first edition
  value: 15 shillings
- label: Number of species Darwin observed aboard HMS Beagle
  value: 1,300+ specimens collected
timeline:
- date: 1831-12-27
  title: HMS Beagle departs England
  description: Darwin, age 22, embarks as naturalist aboard Captain Robert FitzRoy's survey vessel from Plymouth Sound, beginning a five-year voyage to South America and the Pacific.
- date: 1835-09-15
  title: Darwin reaches Galápagos Islands
  description: Darwin spends five weeks observing finches, tortoises, and mockingbirds on the archipelago, observations that would later anchor his theory of adaptation.
- date: 1836-10-02
  title: HMS Beagle returns to England
  description: Darwin disembarks in Falmouth with 1,300+ specimens. He begins organizing notes and consulting with geologists and ornithologists over the following years.
- date: 1838-09-28
  title: Darwin reads Malthus on population
  description: Reading Thomas Malthus's Essay on Population crystallizes Darwin's thinking on competition and survival, the mechanism behind natural selection.
- date: 1844-07-10
  title: Darwin writes confidential essay on species
  description: Darwin drafts a 230-page private essay outlining his theory but shares it only with his wife Emma and closest colleagues, fearing religious backlash.
- date: 1858-06-18
  title: Wallace letter forces Darwin's hand
  description: Naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace sends Darwin a manuscript outlining natural selection independently. Darwin accelerates his publication plans with encouragement from colleagues Lyell and Hooker.
- date: 1858-07-01
  title: Linnaean Society reads joint Wallace-Darwin papers
  description: Papers by both Wallace and Darwin on natural selection are read before the Linnaean Society of London, establishing priority and generating initial scientific discussion.
- date: 1859-11-24
  title: Origin of Species published
  description: Darwin's 502-page book appears in print. The first edition sells out within a day. The Times and other major papers begin reviewing within weeks.
- date: 1859-11-30
  title: Initial scientific reception
  description: Leading naturalists including Thomas Huxley and Charles Lyell begin reading and discussing the theory. Huxley becomes Darwin's most vocal scientific defender.
- date: 1860-06-30
  title: Oxford debate on evolution
  description: Thomas Huxley debates Bishop Samuel Wilberforce at the British Association for the Advancement of Science, cementing the public science-versus-religion narrative.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiology"
  title: Origin theory
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection became the unifying framework for modern biology, replacing teleological explanations with mechanism. The intellectual shift was seismic—it reframed human origins as a scientific question rather than settled doctrine, and gave biology its central organizing principle.
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: Darwin publishes Origin of Species, proposing evolution by natural selection. November 1859.
wikidataQid: Q156318
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260510164614/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiology"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-10
  label: Origin theory
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiology"
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The Times
  publisherSlug: the-times
  headline: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection - Mr. Darwin's New Work
  publishedAt: 1859-11-24
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Mr. Charles Darwin has at length given to the world the results of his twenty years of investigation into the origins and transmutation of species. His theory, grounded in extensive observation during his voyage aboard the Beagle, proposes a mechanism by which all living creatures descend from common ancestors through natural selection.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: The Athenaeum
  publisherSlug: the-athenaeum
  headline: Darwin's Theory of Species - A Bold Challenge to Natural Philosophy
  publishedAt: 1859-11-19
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The literary and scientific journal's review examined Darwin's audacious hypothesis that species are not immutable, but rather modified by the struggle for existence and the preservation of favourable variations over successive generations.
  significance: 82
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: The Spectator
  publisherSlug: the-spectator
  headline: Mr. Darwin and the Question of Man's Place in Nature
  publishedAt: 1859-12-03
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The weekly commentary weighed Darwin's controversial implications regarding human descent, debating whether his natural selection theory threatens established doctrine or merely explains the mechanism of Creation itself.
  significance: 85
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: The Edinburgh Review
  publisherSlug: the-edinburgh-review
  headline: On the Origin of Species - Darwin's Investigation into Life's Diversity
  publishedAt: 1860-04-01
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - set this literal string when no live archive URL is recallable
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - The prestigious Scottish quarterly offered a measured assessment of Darwin's monumental work, acknowledging both its empirical rigor and its radical departure from teleological views of natural history.
  significance: 79
  type: magazine
  region: United Kingdom
taxonomy:
domain: scientific
eventTypes:
- research_publication
- discovery
canonicalClasses:
- discovery
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
