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What did Charles Darwin observe in the Cape Verde Islands?
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Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin, carbon-print photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868.
During his visit to the Cape Verde Islands in January 1832, Charles Darwin observed bands of oyster shells embedded within the local rocks. This observation led him to conclude that the land was rising in some areas and falling in others, which supported the geologic speculations of Charles Lyell regarding the earth's gradual changes.1