The words Darwin and Galapagos have been inextricably linked ever since Charles Darwin published his revolutionary work, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. The seeds of his theory came from his observations during his visit to the Galapagos in 1835 as naturalist on the survey ship, HMS Beagle.

Born in 1809 in Shrewsbury England. He studied for his degree at Edinburgh and Cambridge. He was recommended for the position of naturalist on HMS Beagle under the command of Robert Fitzroy. The voyage lasted 6 years, spent largely in South America.

He published his great work only after painstaking research into barnacles, pigeons and other species. His great contribution, was not the concept of evolution, but in providing a mechanism, ‘Natural Selection’ for evolution to take place. Darwin and through him Galapagos, had a huge impact on human thought, a true revolutionary. He died in 1882, and 2009 was the 200th anniversary of his birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species.