  The formation and evolution of galaxies is one of the great outstanding
problems of astrophysics. Within the broad context of hierachical structure
formation, we have only a crude picture of how galaxies like our own came into
existence. A detailed physical picture where individual stellar populations can
be associated with (tagged to) elements of the protocloud is far beyond our
current understanding. Important clues have begun to emerge from both the
Galaxy (near-field cosmology) and the high redshift universe (far-field
cosmology). Here we focus on the fossil evidence provided by the Galaxy.
Detailed studies of the Galaxy lie at the core of understanding the complex
processes involved in baryon dissipation. This is a necessary first step
towards achieving a successful theory of galaxy formation.
