Who were some people that influenced Charles Darwin's ideas?

Charles Darwin was influenced by several key figures, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, whose ideas on evolution and inheritance laid foundational concepts for Darwin's theories. Thomas Malthus also played a significant role, as his writings on population growth and resource limitations prompted Darwin to consider natural selection as a mechanism for evolution. Additionally, Charles Lyell's principles of geology, emphasizing gradual change over time, helped Darwin understand the long timescales necessary for evolution to occur.