Rio Negro and River Uaupes in the Amazon Rainforest, Brazil. Two maps on one sheet, from the surveys of Alfred Russell Wallace (1851-2).



Alfred Russell Wallace was a ground-breaking naturalist and biologist who undertook fieldwork in the Amazon basin in the 1850s while researching the distribution of species. His discoveries in this region, along with later research in the Malay archipelago, led him to discover independently the theory of natural selection simultaneously with Charles Darwin. In fact, it was only encouragement from Wallace that eventually convinced Darwin to publish his writings on natural selection and evolution. He is now generally considered to be the co-discoverer of natural selection, though his legacy is still largely outshadowed by Charles Darwin.



Original hand-colour. [SAM3354]