Biogeography: the history of life on Earth.

Abstract

Biogeography is concerned with the geographical distribution of organisms in space through time. Its main purpose is to recognize patterns of spatial organization and postulate the processes that resulted in such patterns. In this paper the main concepts and historical facts related to its trajectory are presented, aiming to provide a way to understand that this discipline did not simply arose instantly. On the contrary, Biogeography is a complex discipline with a very long development, which occurred through accumulation of contributions from several researchers over the last centuries.