The British naturalist that lived in Malay archipelago, came to a similar conclusion as Charles Darwin…. evolution through natural selection.

He was self taught, becoming interested in botany and entomology. He didn’t complete his education due his family’s lack of money.

He first went in search of beetles in the Amazon, spending 4 years there. He made maps of the Amazon, a skill that he had learned from his brother, a surveyor. He was a naturalist, anthropologist geographer & explorer.  Returning from the Amazon, there was a fire on board on the returning ship… all survived for 10 days at sea but he lost all the samples and all his notes. 

A year later in 1854 he arrives in Singapore.  He spent 8 years exploring 14,000 square miles. He drew all documented species because there was no photography at the time… 125,000 species. He unfortunately had to shoot and kill animals and bird as that was the only way to collect species but he also had help from locals bringing species to him. 

While sick with malaria in 1858, he had a eureka moment. Those that are better equipped to survive the environment they are living in, will survive and reproduce. Those that are not, do not so nature eventually produce stronger and bigger stock. 

Darwin had a 5 year journey on the Beagle, to Patagonia and the Galapagos. He comes to the conclusion if animals can change and so adapt then so must humans. Wallace’s theories independently realized, and sent to Darwin forced Darwin to publish their groundbreaking to theories.  He became the foot soldier of the General Darwin. 

Some of the animals he collected and examined have since become extinct. 

The Wallace Line, named after him, runs through the Malay Archipelago. He came to realize that animals that lived on west side of that line were only Asian and those to the east were Australian, never crossing over that line. Why they didn’t cross over the Wallace line, the Lombok Strait ….because of deep ocean trenches developed during the ice age. That 

area is known as Wallacea in science books. 

Komodo dragons only exist on 5 islands in that area, the proboscis monkeys on Borneo. 

Back to exploring/excursions next.