Answer:
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Step-by-step explanation:
It was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who first proposed theory of evolution in some form. His theory of transmutation of species clearly depicted that species advances themselves based on their environmental surroundings and also says that all the species have developed themselves from a simple organism to a complex one through generations of adaptation. He also supported the thought of inheritance of characteristics from ancestors referred to as Lamarckism.
Thus, before Charles Darwin it was Lamarck who established the theory of evolution