The Malay Archipelago

The Malay Archipelago was published in 1869, seven years after Wallace’s return to England, drawing heavily on the meticulous journals he kept throughout his eight-year expedition. Wallace followed a convoluted route, amounting to around 14,000 miles of travel, and made repeated visits to the same islands. For this reason,

The Malay Archipelago is arranged geographically and not chronologically. It is, nevertheless, widely celebrated as one of the greatest travel books of all time. The first edition was dedicated magnanimously to Charles Darwin, the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution by natural selection.