Wallace's
The Malay Archipelago
is recognized as the classic work on the flora, fauna, and peoples of the area which is now called Indonesia. Based largely on field journals Wallace kept during the eight years he spent in Malaysia and Indonesia between 1854 and 1862, this work ranks as one of the greatest travel books on the region and, in its analysis of the geographical distribution of animals, as one of the most important natural history books of the 19th century.