D Darwin, Charles (1809–1882) British naturalist The famous British naturalist Charles Darwin traveled around the world, wrote several books, and developed the theory of natural selection and evolution Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in the west of England His father, Robert Darwin, was a wealthy doctor and financier, and his mother Susannah (née Wedgwood) died when he was eight years old He was a grandson of Erasmus Darwin, a prominent physician, on his father’s side and Josiah Wedgwood, from the pottery family, on his mother’s side Charles Darwin went to Shrewsbury School and then to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine; he also learned how to stuff birds by a freed South American slave who worked at the Edinburgh Museum His father was disappointed at his son’s lack of progress at Edinburgh and decided to move him to Cambridge Darwin proceeded to Christ’s College, where he had the idea of becoming a clergyman and studied theology It was during this time that he started collecting beetles and developing a keen interest in entomology With the H.M.S Beagle sailing to South America to chart the coastline, Darwin decided that he might join the crew as an unpaid assistant to the ship’s captain, Robert FitzRoy Darwin realized that it would give him an unparalleled opportunity to study the geological features of many islands around the world, as well as to study wildlife He had been inspired by accounts of the German explorer Alexander von Humboldt His father was unhappy about the idea of a two-year voyage (it later turned out to last for five years), but Josiah Wedgwood, his grandfather, supported the trip Darwin set off on December 27, 1831, collecting and sending back large numbers of natural history specimens The ship stopped at the Cape Verde Islands, and Darwin proceeded to study oyster shells and note the changes in the land On arriving in South America, at Bahia (modern-day Salvador), Darwin went to study the rain forest He was angered by the treatment of the slaves in Brazil He spent some months in the rain forest and then in July 1832 went to Montevideo, Uruguay, which was going through one of its many conflicts after becoming independent Darwin met the Argentine dictator General Juan Manuel de Rosas and found the way the Argentine government treated the people of Tierra del Fuego bordering on systematic extermination The Beagle sailed to the Falkland Islands and then back to Argentina In October 1833 Darwin caught a fever in Argentina and in July 1834 fell ill in Valparaíso He spent a long time in Chile, climbing the Andes and studying the fossils in the Andean foothills Darwin went to Peru and to the Galápagos Islands Darwin proceeded on to Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia, although he never went to the settlement in the north of the country that now bears his name In 107