Abstract details

The Ks-band magnitude distribution of carbon-rich and oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch stars within Local Group galaxies like the Magellanic Clouds, NGC 6822, M33 and SagDIG is easily obtained from ground-based observations. Appropriate stellar evolutionary models covering a range of metallicities and star formation rates are used to produce theoretical distributions that allow us to derive the history of star formation across these galaxies. I will show the result of these studies and discuss the application of this technique to more distant systems as well as deeper observations, like those that VISTA will provide, to improve our understanding of, in particular, the Magellanic Clouds.