Abstract: The paper presents a novel machine learning algorithm used for training a compound classifier system that consists of a set of area classifiers. Area classifiers recognize objects derived from the respective competence area. Splitting feature space into areas and selecting area classifiers are two key processes of the algorithm; both take place simultaneously in the course of an optimization process aimed at maximizing the system performance. An evolutionary algorithm is used to find the optimal solution. A number of experiments have been carried out to evaluate system performance. The results prove that the proposed method outperforms each elementary classifier as well as simple voting.