Charles Darwin’s observations on humanity during the Beagle voyage

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 8 years ago

ABSTRACT – During the voyage of the Beagle (1831–1836) Charles Darwin had the opportunity of describing the societies and ways of life of Australian Aborigines, Tahitians, Maoris, Fuegians, Africans, Chilotans, amongst others. Although Darwin did not fully adopt evolutionary ideas until some months after the end of the voyage, probably in about March 1837, even while aboard HMS Beagle there are signs that he was arranging his observations of humanity around ideas that later became important to him. For example, he speculated about the ‘scale’ or ‘ladder’ of human societies from the most primitive to the most advanced; yet he also embraced the idea of the ‘human family‘ and of the relationships among the human groups, and considering the suggestion that there was a common origin as expounded in The Descent of Man in 1871. He also displayed an ecological awareness. Nevertheless Darwin lacked an appropriate conceptual framework for anthropological studies; he sometimes fell back on his medical training at Edinburgh, or on zoological comparisons. Moreover, he was a man of his time, with the view of the world of a young English gentleman, brought up in the Whig tradition, and with a broadly Christian outlook. He believed strongly in Britain’s imperial destiny, and the superiority of European civilisation, and some of his remarkably detailed observations have to be interpreted in this light.