History of classification systems:

Greek Period:

The earliest known system of classification of organisms comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who classified all living organisms known at that time as either in the group “plants or in animals”.

Muslim Period:

In the 700’s Abu-Usman Umer Aljahiz described the characteristics of 350 species of animals in his book. He wrote a lot about the life of ants. In 1172 Ibn e Rushd (Averroes), who was a judge (Qazi) in Seville, translated and abridged Aristotle’s “De Anima (on the soul)” into Arabic. His original commentary is now lost, but its translation into Latin is available.

Modern Period:

1. An Italian Botanist Andrea ceaselpino (1519-1603) proposed the first methodical arrangement of plants. He divided plants into 15 groups called “genera”
2. An English Naturalist John ray (1627-1705) published important works on plants’ classification.
3. Augustus Quirinus previous (1652-1723; German Botanist) and piston de Tournefort (1656-1708; French Botanist) introduced the practice of naming the plants according to their genera.
4. The category of order and Tournefort introduced even more sophisticated categories of class, section, genus, and species
5. Modern classification has its roots in the work of a Swedish biologist, Carolus Linnaeus who grouped species according to similar physical characteristics.