HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin spent between June 1834 and July 1835 in Chile, or Chili as Darwin called it in his notebooks and diary of the time. His first impressions are very favourable: "The woods are incomparably more beautiful than those of Tierra del Fuego...excepting in Brazil I have never seen such an abundance of elegant forms."
Darwin made two of his great overland expeditions in Chile, first crossing the Andes then making a long trek north from Valparaiso to Copiapo. And on 3 March 1835 Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary records: "We felt, on board, a very smart shock of an earthquake: some compared the motion to that of a cable running out, & others to the ship touching on a Mud bank. — Capt. FitzRoy heard when on Mocha that the Sealers had experienced a succession of shocks during the last fortnight." His account of the earthquake and its aftermath is superb.
Chile made a huge impression on Darwin, so it is good to welcome the Fundacion Ciencia y Evolucion. Their website explains far better than we could Why Darwin and Why in Chile, so pop over and have a look. We look forward to welcoming them aboard.