The voyage of the HMS Beagle marked a turning point for Charles Darwin, a young naturalist who had recently graduated from Edinburgh University. The Beagle set sail from Plymouth on December 27, 1831, embarking on a journey that would take it across the Atlantic Ocean, around South America, and ultimately back to England after five years of exploration. Under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy, the mission aimed to survey the southern coasts of South America, yet it became a significant expedition for evolutionary biology thanks to the observations and collections made by Darwin.

Throughout the journey, Darwin meticulously documented his findings, collecting samples, fossils, and specimens from various locations, including the Galápagos Islands, South American coasts, and many other regions. His encounters with unique species, such as the diverse finches of the Galápagos, prompted him to question the traditional beliefs about species and their stability. He began to develop ideas about how species might adapt to their environments over time, ultimately leading to his formulation of natural selection.

The importance of this voyage cannot be overstated: the practical fieldwork and the extensive data Darwin collected laid the groundwork for his later works, most notably 'On the Origin of Species.' Throughout his travels, he encountered immense biodiversity and geological phenomena that shaped his thinking about the relationship between organisms and their environments, challenging the prevailing views of species as immutable. His documentation from the Beagle voyage brought forth new ideas that would forever change our understanding of biology and the evolution of life on Earth.