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History

MediaWiki is a free and open-source wiki software platform originally developed for Wikipedia by Magnus Manske and improved by Lee Daniel Crocker. It was first released in January 2002 under the name "Phase III".

The software was redesigned in 2002 to handle the growing demands of Wikipedia, which had become one of the most popular websites on the internet. In July 2013, MediaWiki was used by more than 50 million websites worldwide.

Key milestones include:

• Release of version 1.0 in 2003
• Introduction of the API in 2007
• Launch of VisualEditor in 2013
• Implementation of modern REST API in 2019

MediaWiki is written primarily in PHP and stores content in a relational database such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite.

Features

MediaWiki offers a wide range of features for content management and collaboration:

1. Extensibility: Over 2,000 extensions available
2. Multilingual support: Supports more than 350 languages
3. Rich media handling: Images, videos, and audio files
4. Version control: Complete revision history tracking

The platform includes several built-in tools:

• Parser functions: For advanced template logic
• Magic words: Dynamic content generation
• Categories: Hierarchical content organization
• Namespace system: Content separation and management

According to the MediaWiki developers, the software is designed to be "scalable and feature-rich" while maintaining ease of use. The platform can handle wikis ranging from small personal projects to massive sites like Wikipedia with millions of pages.

MediaWiki uses the GNU General Public License v2+, making it free to use, modify, and distribute.

Figure 3. Carmack's caption reads: "Detail of inset map, 'Comoro the Highest Island,' from A Chart of the Inner Passage between the Coast of Africa and the Isle of Madagascar, from Mr. D’Anville with Several Additions. In The Oriental Pilot (1778) by R. Sayer and J. Bennett. Courtesy the Map Section at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australia."

There is also this detail map from 1774 with the names as "Comoro" and "Moroon":

Figure 4. Carmack's caption: "Detail of 'Plan of the w. side of
Comoro or Anga-Zecha, showing 'AIngando,' (Itzanda), and 'Moroon'
(Moroni), Alexander Sibbald, 1774, from Dalrymple's Charts (1807?).
Courtesy the Map Section at the National Library of Australia,
Canberra, Australia.