  The Milky Way is the product of a complex evolution of generations of
mergers, collapse, star formation, supernova and collisional heating, radiative
and collisional cooling, and ejected nucleosynthesis. Moreover, all of this
occurs in the context of the cosmic expansion, the formation of cosmic
filaments, dark-matter halos, spiral density waves, and emerging dark energy.
In this review we summarize observational evidence and discuss recent
calculations concerning the formation, evolution nucleosynthesis in the
galaxies of the Local-Group. In particular, we will briefly summarize
observations and simulations for the dwarf galaxies and the two large spirals
of the Local Group. We discuss how galactic halos form within the dark matter
filaments that define a super-galactic plane. Gravitational interaction along
this structure leads to streaming flows toward the two dominant galaxies in the
cluster. These simulations and observations also suggest that a significant
fraction of the Galactic halo formed as at large distances and then arrived
later along these streaming flows. We also consider the insight provided by
observations and simulations of nucleosynthesis both within the galactic halo
and dwarf galaxies in the Local Group.
