JavaScript was created in 1995 by Netscape Communications Corporation as a way to add interactivity to web pages. At the time, the main technologies used for building web pages were HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). These languages were primarily used to structure and style the content of a web page, but they did not have the ability to create dynamic, interactive content.

The initial version of JavaScript was developed by Netscape engineer Brendan Eich in just ten days, and it was released as part of Netscape Navigator 2.0 in September 1995. The language was originally called LiveScript, but it was later renamed to JavaScript to capitalize on the popularity of Sun Microsystems’ Java programming language.

Despite its name, JavaScript has no relation to Java. The two languages do share some similarities in terms of syntax, but they are otherwise distinct languages with different capabilities and uses.

In the early days of the web, JavaScript was primarily used to create simple effects such as image rollovers and pop-up windows. It was not until the late 1990s and early 2000s that more advanced uses of the language began to emerge, such as form validation and asynchronous communication with the server (Ajax).

The widespread adoption of JavaScript was helped in large part by the success of the Netscape browser, which was the dominant browser in the late 1990s. However, the rise of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and the emergence of other browsers such as Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome led to the development of more standardized and interoperable versions of JavaScript.

In 1996, Netscape submitted JavaScript to the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) for standardization. The resulting standard, known as ECMAScript, has since been adopted by a number of other browser vendors and has become the basis for modern JavaScript implementations.

The latest version of ECMAScript, ECMAScript 2021, was released in June 2021 and includes a number of new features such as global private fields, numeric separators, and the optional chaining operator.

Today, JavaScript is used by nearly all web browsers and is supported by a large and active developer community. It is an essential tool for web development and is used to create a wide range of interactive and dynamic websites and web applications.