Most people know of Charles Darwin as the man who “put Galápagos on the map.” But not everyone knows the curious circumstances that brought him to these islands. His ship, HMS Beagle, had been sent to South America on important business, and its brief stop in the Galapagos Islands on the homeward-bound journey happened almost as an afterthought—and almost didn’t happen at all.

Metropolitan Touring is presenting a special “Darwin and Friends” expedition cruise which, in addition to its regular program of island visits, will offer a series of illustrated lectures on the life and times of the man who changed the views of the natural world and humanity’s place within it. Guests will also have a look at some of the explorers who got there first, including a British buccaneer who coined the expression “sub-species” a century before Darwin’s birth.

John Woram is the author of ten books. He has traveled extensively in South America, including frequent visits (at last count, 20) to the Galapagos Islands and to Tierra del Fuego.

His interest in the human and cartographic history of these places eventually led him to design and build a website on the subject and to write Charles Darwin Slept Here: Tales of Human History at World’s End. This was followed by his Here Be Giants: Travelers’ Tales from the Land of the Patagons.

Metropolitan Touring, www.metropolitan-touring.com