Joomla is an open-source content management system (CMS) that was first released in 2005. Here’s a brief history of Joomla:

1. Mambo CMS and Fork: Joomla’s roots can be traced back to Mambo CMS, a popular CMS developed by the Mambo Foundation. In 2005, a disagreement arose within the Mambo community regarding the project’s direction and licensing issues. This led to a split, and a group of developers and community members formed the Joomla project by forking the Mambo codebase.
2. Joomla 1.0: The first official release of Joomla, known as Joomla 1.0, was launched on September 16, 2005. It inherited many features and functionalities from the Mambo CMS but introduced significant improvements and modifications based on community contributions.
3. Rapid Growth and Adoption: Joomla gained popularity rapidly due to its user-friendly interface, extensibility, and active community support. The availability of numerous free and commercial extensions, templates, and themes helped drive adoption and attracted users from various sectors, including businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals.
4. Joomla 1.5: In January 2008, Joomla 1.5 was released as a major update. It introduced significant architectural improvements, enhanced template and extension management, and improved usability. Joomla 1.5 marked a significant milestone in the platform’s development, solidifying its position as a leading CMS.
5. Joomla 2.5 and 3.x: Joomla 2.5 was released in January 2012, offering improved performance, better security, and a streamlined update process. In September 2012, Joomla 3.0 was launched, introducing a completely new framework (Joomla Platform) and adopting a responsive design approach for mobile-friendly websites.
6. Joomla Community: Joomla has a dedicated and active community of developers, contributors, and users who provide support, create extensions, design templates, and contribute to the overall development of the platform. Community-driven events such as JoomlaDay and Joomla World Conference help foster collaboration and knowledge sharing.
7. Current Version: As of my knowledge cutoff in September 2021, the latest major release of Joomla is Joomla 4.0, which was officially released in August 2021. Joomla 4.0 brings significant improvements, including a modernized user interface, enhanced performance, and a more robust and flexible architecture.

Joomla continues to evolve, driven by the contributions and support of its community. It remains a popular choice for building websites and applications, offering features such as content management, user management, multi-language support, SEO capabilities, and a vast ecosystem of extensions and templates.