The Voyage of Darwin - Animated Map Quiz

The route has been necessarily simplified, particularly in South America where years were spent sailing up and down the coasts, though I've tried to give a more accurate impression than some maps which depict a simple forward journey around the continent.

Some of Darwin's opinions of those he encountered have been included for colour and reflect the point of view of one young man born into "the wealthy professional upper class of early British bourgeois society" in the heyday of British colonialism. I hope no offence is taken. (Having personally spent time in beautiful Kerikeri with its lovely people, very close to the Bay of Islands, I can say that my opinions differ from his somewhat!)

Likewise, his support of missionaries has been included as a point of interest, especially given that his publishings on evolution would create much debate over religion. Darwin had originally intended to join the clergy and his initial zeal for science was wrapped up in natural theology whereby a deity is seen acting through the laws of nature. Indeed he initially looked for "centres of creation" to explain the distribution of species on the voyage.

As his ideas on evolution developed Darwin became critical of the Bible as a historical document, though when he finally published his theory of natural selection, which removed the need for intelligent design, he still considered himself a theist. This view subsequently fluctuated, though he never became an atheist. Although Darwin had stopped attending church with his family for decades, preferring to walk instead, in his final years he described himself as agnostic.