ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE
How this Welsh naturalist helped Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution
WORDS AILSA HARVEY
Above: Wallace
illustrated many of the
species he observed
Two centuries ago, the codiscoverer of the theory of evolution was born. Alfred Russel Wallace was not just a naturalist, but a keen explorer, geographer and anthropologist. One of Wallace’s first jobs involved mapping the lands of Bedfordshire and Wales. As a surveyor, Wallace had to make accurate measurements of farmland so that landowners could be taxed to fund their local churches. Wallace wrote essays about the social and economic struggles of working-class farmers during his time surveying, but his true interests lay elsewhere. He loved to study the natural world in his free time.
His first trip to study natural specimens took place in 1848, when he travelled to Brazil to search for valuable biological items. Over the following years, Wallace’s expeditions led him to multiple areas of the Amazon basin. As a self-employed naturalist, Wallace was free to follow his own interests. He made observations about the languages and cultures of people he encountered, as well as biological analyses of the butterflies, birds, insects and plants in each area he visited.