  The Magellanic System represents one of the best places to study the
formation and evolution of galaxies. Photometric surveys of various depths,
areas and wavelengths have had a significant impact on our understanding of the
system; however, a complete picture is still lacking. VMC (the VISTA
near-infrared YJKs survey of the Magellanic System) will provide new data to
derive the spatially resolved star formation history and to construct a
three-dimensional map of the system. These data combined with those from other
ongoing and planned surveys will give us an absolutely unique view of the
system opening up the doors to truly new science!
