Mark Gavalda, CEO of Kinsta WordPress Hosting, has published an in-depth guide covering the history of WordPress, its vast ecosystem, and the community surrounding it. Gavalda does a great job explaining the impact WordPress has had on so many individuals and businesses with quotes from notable members of the community.
The largest take away for me is that despite taking over an hour to read, it only scratches the surface. One of my favorite parts is a quote from Matt Mullenweg on contributing to WordPress.
Just remember, every contribution counts, no matter what it looks like. It takes every one of us to make WordPress better.
If you’d like to know more about the history of the project before it became WordPress, check out this list of milestones by Hakre. His post covers the events in the 2000-2005 timeline that include the birth of WordPress.