Rediscovering Alfred Russel Wallace: The True Location of His Ternate Residence

In February of 1858, naturalist and explorer Alfred Russel Wallace, whilst in the village of Dodinga at Halmahera Island, Indonesia, independently outlined his theory of evolution through natural selection. Wallace then returned to his rented home on the small island of Ternate, and sent his manuscript —now known as “The Ternate Letter”— to Charles Darwin. For nearly 80 years Wallace’s rented house has been a subject of debate, with two houses contending as candidates albeit, as this paper confirms, neither being valid. The paper written by Paul Whincup describes how a combination of new research, fieldwork, and local insight has finally pinpointed the true site of Wallace’s House at Ternate.