Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
of a large tree. … The falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300
or 400 feet in height which are covered with forest, with red soils
appearing among the trees.
David Livingstone,
Missionary Travels and Researches (1857)
Livingstone's main purpose in Africa was his missionary activities,
but others at that time were driven by commercial, political, or
scientifi c considerations. Lands previously unknown to Europeans
were being discovered and new facts about the physical make-up
of the Earth's surface, its landscapes, environments, and
resources, were being made known. The process of geographical
exploration, its reporting and depiction of the Earth's surface, had
major signifi cance for the history of science. Indeed, for most of
historical time, geographical progress has been indistinguishable
from that of science in general.
The fi rst lines of Charles Darwin's account of his scientifi c
research during the voyage of the Beagle were:
After twice being driven back by heavy south-western gales, Her
Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of
Captain Fitz Roy, R.N., sailed from Devonport on 27 th December
1831. The object of the expedition was to complete the survey of
Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King
in 1816 to 1830 - to survey the shores of Chile, Peru and some
islands in the Pacifi c - and to carry out a chain of chronometrical
measurements round the World.
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle (1845)
This was the journey that inspired Darwin to produce his theory
of evolution that changed the scientifi c world. That theory
was inspired by the geographical variations in species that he
observed, especially those encountered in the Galapagos Islands,
but the primary purpose of the voyage was to produce maps and
charts and descriptions of this part of the world. Those maps had
Search WWH ::




Custom Search