Charles Darwin and his encounters with different human populations during the Voyage of the HMS Beagle (1831-1836). The Gauchos, the Fuegians and the Tahitians

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Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 1, 3, University of Paderborn (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Charles Darwin: Selected Works, language: English, abstract: The following pages intend to focus on a cultural-anthropological aspect, namely to present and to compare the various human populations Darwin meets at the different places during his voyage and the way he describes them. Due to the scope of this paper, the populations presented here will be confined to three human populations: the gauchos in the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay, the Fuegians from Tierra del Fuego and the inhabitants of Tahiti. These three groups are particularly interesting because of their differences which will be shown later. The procedure will be as follows: First of all, their land will be described briefly. Secondly, their outward appearance, their habits, gender roles within the tribes and the degree of civilization. The latter aspect is usually measured by how much the people cover their naked skin with clothes, their intellect, how they treat their fellow men, and their linguistic skills. In a final step, then, Darwin's perceptions and judgments will be looked at from a critical point of view. Before presenting the first human population, the gauchos, information on the Voyage of the Beagle will be provided to create a better understanding of the route and the purpose of the voyage. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is indisputably one of the greatest scientists of the nineteenth century. His theory of evolution by natural selection changed our world view to a great extent. During his voyage on the HMS Beagle (1831-1835) around the coastal areas of South America, New Zealand, Australia and islands in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean he could gain insights which would later lead him to the theories in his masterpiece On the Origin of Species (1859). Like many other travellers, D