The Malay Archipelago

An influential account of fieldwork undertaken by Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) in Indonesia and Malaysia, first published in 1869.

Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was a British naturalist best remembered as the co-discoverer of natural selection. These volumes, first published in 1869, contain Wallace's account of fieldwork he undertook in Indonesia, Malaysia and New Guinea between 1854 and 1862. Volume 1 covers the islands of Indonesia and Malaysia.Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) was a British naturalist best remembered as the co-discoverer, with Darwin, of natural selection. His extensive fieldwork and advocacy of the theory of evolution led to him being considered one of the nineteenth century's foremost biologists. These volumes, first published in 1869, contain Wallace's acclaimed and highly influential account of extensive fieldwork he undertook in modern Indonesia, Malaysia and New Guinea between 1854 and 1862. Wallace describes his travels around the island groups, depicting the unusual animals and insects he encountered and providing ethnographic descriptions of the indigenous peoples. Wallace's analysis of biogeographic patterns in Indonesia (later termed the Wallace Line) profoundly influenced contemporary and later evolutionary and geological thought concerning both Indonesia and other areas of the world where similar patterns were found. Volume 1 covers the islands of Indonesia and Malaysia.