Vanessa Cirkel-Bartelt 2008-03-20 2008-05-07 Abstract This article gives an outline of the historical events that led to the formation of contemporary astroparticle physics. As a starting point for analyzing the history of astroparticle physics this article will review the various, yet scattered pieces of historical work that have been done so far. To make the picture more complete it will then give a brief survey of the most important fields that have played a role in the development of astroparticle physics as we know it today. It will conclude with an overview of the historical questions that are still open and the rich philosophical implications that lie behind those questions. http://www.livingreviews.org/lrr-2008-2 Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics astroparticle physics, history of physics, philosophy of physics History of Astroparticle Physics and its Components