Charles Darwin · Sep 1835
Galápagos: San Cristóbal
Port 15 of 28 on this voyage
The natural history of this archipelago is very remarkable: it seems to be a little world within itself.
Darwin arrived on the volcanic shores of San Cristóbal and entered a world unlike anything he had seen. Marine iguanas, black dragon-like creatures he called 'imps of darkness,' basked on lava rocks. He threw one into the sea repeatedly; it kept swimming stubbornly back. Giant tortoises plodded across the landscape. Every animal was bizarrely tame, having evolved without land predators. He began collecting small, drab birds he barely noticed. They would turn out to be the most famous specimens in the history of biology.
The evolutionary spark
Darwin did NOT have his eureka moment on the islands. He was mainly focused on geology and was somewhat casual about labeling which island his specimens came from, a mistake he would deeply regret. The revolution would come later, in a London laboratory.
Read his own account