Abstract. Corpus linguistics has developed from a supplementary research method into a major empirical approach within modern linguistics. This article traces the historical evolution of corpus linguistics from its early foundations to the era of web-based, multimodal, and AI-driven corpora. It highlights major milestones, methodological innovations, theoretical contributions, and contemporary applications. The discussion also addresses current debates regarding representativeness, ethical concerns, and the future direction of corpus-based research. The article demonstrates how corpus linguistics has shaped the analysis of real-world language use and has become central to computational linguistics, lexicography, sociolinguistics, and language teaching.